Firehouse

Being a part of a fire service means a lot of different things to different people.

Mark Twain said it best: “Comparison is the death of joy.”  This sentiment has roots that stretch back to Biblical times, yet comparing ourselves, our families and our career successes to those around us can be a hard habit to break. 

If you are willing to look at yourself, acknowledge where a change needs to happen and make the change, your perception of life will dramatically increase for the better. I sat there reading my response to the text that I was just about to send. Then, it hit me. I was replying the exact same …

The beauty of the camaraderie, dark humor and fire station joking is that it effortlessly builds resilience. Until it doesn’t.  Everyone wants to feel like they belong. It’s a human drive to feel like you are connected to a group and a part of something bigger than yourself. In many ways, it is this sense of …

Can we rely on the tests of the past to qualify the firefighters of the present? Of the future? As firefighters, we want the best. We want the best in order to be able to do the best job we can. On the whole, we’re motivated and driven; we have a job to do, we …

Validate each achievement you have, no matter how small you think they may be Let’s answer a few questions, shall we? Do you have a high self-esteem? Do you have a high self-confidence? Can you have a high self-esteem but low self-confidence or low self-esteem but high self-confidence? Maybe you are asking right now — …

Done any good deeds lately? You may be on your way to work, tunes cranked, smiling with self-satisfaction as you think about how you just brought in your neighbor’s garbage bins and shoveled his sidewalk.

Using aggression as a tool to get what you want can be an asset when used in a controlled and methodical way. We’ve all heard the saying that nice guys finish last. This trope can be seen in any number of movies in which the sweet guy finds himself outshined by the jerk both in …