Ryan Troutman's Blog

Book Signing - San Marco

Last month I had a book signing at The San Marco Bookstore in Jacksonville, FL and it was such an amazing experience! I met with the bookstore owner early in the morning and set up a table outside their shop. It was just just me, my lovely girlfriend, a box of books, and a pen that was waiting for the action to start. There I was, just standing outside on the sidewalk in the prime of Summer heat. I looked around but hardly saw anyone. Across the street were a few people coming out of a coffee...

#NotAlone

Today is the first day of Brain Injury Awareness Month.One month to recognize the more than 12 million Americans living with the impact of an acquired brain injury (ABI).12 million. That’s a crazy number, right?12 million?!In fact, every 13 seconds someone in the U.S sustains a traumatic brain injury (TBI).But, let’s crunch the numbers even more.How many people do you know?Just think of a number in your head and know that 1 of every 60 people in the U.S are living with a TBI-related disabilit...

Creating Progress

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” - George Bernard ShawYou couldn't have said it better, George. This is a scary thought but I believe it is one that is tried and true. Some of us don't like change. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve gone out and exposed myself to a lot of new places and have met a lot of different people, but there are still some things in my life I hold in place as my foundation. Things that I wouldn’t f...

Roads to Travel

Today is the day!My book Second Chance is published and I couldn't begin todescribe how excited I am! Writing a book was a very involved, and challenging task. But, the roaddoesn't stop here. No,this ismerely a scenicstop along the way towards myfuture endeavors.You know,I've been thinkingabout what all of this has been like and it makes me want toshare a story.A story about ablanket my grandmother made for me.When I was discharged from the hospital, my family threw a coming home party over a...

Perception is everything

"The way you perceive and react to the world is a choice" - David Foster WallaceI think David's comment is applicable to anything and everything. All of the good and bad that occurs in our life must first be perceived by us and followed with a reaction. The idea of instant reactions has always fascinated me. Sometimes instant reactions go against the type of person we try to portray to others.I've seen laid-back, relaxed, and mellow people let the stress of daily living consume them and chang...

Going the distance

“If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”―T.S. EliotThat's such a great quote. I came across this the other day and I really stopped to think about how accurate it is. Think about it. If we never push ourselves to new extremities, how will we know what we are truly capable of doing? I've been guilty of letting the comfort of daily routines preventme from exploring new experiences and taking on new challenges. It seems that a lot of us sometimes get caught up in dail...

"It's time to grow up"

"It's time to grow upEver heard that before? I know I have. But what exactly does "growing up" mean? Everyone interprets this in different ways but is there really a set way to "grow up"?I believe there are two things at play as we age. Maturity and this idea that we need to "grow up".Now don't get wrong, I understand that as years pass we take on more responsibilities. We are busier people and live faster paced lives. Sometimes there just isn't any time to do the things we did in our younger...

A Certain Kind of Person

There are many different kinds of people.We've all met people who go through eachday stressed out by the responsibilities they have to manage. You know, the people who exhaust themselves trying to climb the ladder of success. Then there are the people who coast through life without a worry in the world. Orthe people who are proud of their accomplishments and claim to have mastered life.Butthen there are the people who are still trying to find their place in this world.When we were children, w...

First Time Blogging, sort of...

In 2010 I tried creating a blog. The idea was to type up my big life story and let it work itself as a source of passive income. My primary concern with creating the blog was to make money and share the details behind the biggest event in my life. During the creation of this blog,I found out about Google Adsense and smothered my blog with advertisements ofcompletely unrelated things.It eventually felt like after reading about a boy's car accident, I hoped my readers would purchase a vacuum or...