I’m Danny, a veteran journalist, an accidental radio host and a bona fide expert on holding grudges.

I have only recently discovered the relief that comes when you learn to let go.

My Substack is about all of the ways that we humans respond to the slights, stings and injuries we incur as a result of living in this world.

It will also include some strategies and perspective I’ve employed over the past few years as I’ve come to terms with what was a 20-year grudge that I harbored against my stepfather.

For a long time, I believed that the only way I would achieve some sort of closure about this was through a face-to-face confrontation.

This turned out to be incorrect, however.

It was only by gaining a sense of closure that I was finally able to have a conversation with him, and I’m fortunate that’s the order because when we spoke, he didn’t say anything that would have made it any easier for me to get over the hard feelings I had over the pain he had caused in my family.

While the difficulties I had with my stepfather are something of a recurring theme in this newsletter, this is not a perpetual rehashing of that conflict or its resolution.

I’m sharing the perspective I’ve gained over these past few years as we look at the psychological knots that can be caused by resentment.

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Begrudgingly yours,

Danny O’Neil

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