My beautiful wife. You never cease to amaze me. Not only are you beautiful, but you’re so incredibly smart. You’re talented at whatever you want to do, you have so much potential.
Speaking of potential, that’s all I offered you when we met. All I had was the shell of a man who could either be really great or really awful. You saved me from the awful path and showed me what I was capable of.
You made me believe in myself again. After years of self doubt and self indulgence, you somehow made me see what I was capable of. You made me realize what my true worth was. You took this wild bipolar mind and tamed it.
Even with no training or experience in dealing with someone with a mental illness intimately, you never gave up on me. You stuck by my side through my lows and helped me to celebrate my highs. You taught me how to love myself.
I’m not without my flaws, however. I can be short-tempered, and I can be two different people within minutes. You stand by me every time. I know it’s hard, but I appreciate you so much.
Your constant love for me helps rid my mind of those scary thoughts that wander in from time to time. It shows me the light on the stormy nights. It gives me hope.
Your simple touch can soothe the harshest of panic attacks. I don’t know how you do it, but you do. I feel it coming on and I clench my fist, but you reach out and gently rub my back. It brings me down before I can go off the deep end.
I love the way your voice sounds, but especially your laugh. Those two sounds are some of the happiest sounds I’ve ever heard. Your voice soothes the restlessness in my mind. Your voice makes me feel safe.
You know what to say and how to say it when I’m having a bad day. You stay positive for me on those days and serve as my rock. I appreciate that more than you’ll ever know. It adds a glimpse of sunshine on my cloudy day.
You don’t treat me like I’m crazy. I’m a normal person to you. I’m not my mental illness when you speak to me. You see me for who I am and love me for every piece of me.
I just can’t thank you enough for always being there. For the way you smile at me, the way you listen to me, the way you talk to me, the way you love me.
Tyler Wittkofsky is a multi-genre author, blogger, award-winning marketing and communications professional, and fierce mental health advocate from the southern coast of North Carolina. Tyler has been writing short stories for as long as he can remember. Growing up the grandson of an English teacher, Tyler had a constant fuel to his creative fire in his grandmother.
He started writing poetry in 2012 to cope with his mental health struggles with anxiety, bipolar, and depression. Using poetry as an escape, he developed a unique style of poetry that has left readers saying, “Tyler’s voice is compassionate, even while suffering, and I felt the despair and loneliness seeping out through his words.” His first poetry collection, composed of poems written from 2012 to 2016, was published in March 2020.
He began his first novel in 2019. The novel, (Not) Alone, was a story based on true events surrounding the struggles of living with mental illness. Described by readers as “An Intimate Closure with Mental Illness,” this began Tyler’s revitalized passion for mental health. He decided that his writing would have a focus on mental health.
His next novel, The Seeds of Love: Sunflower Kisses Book One, was his debut romance novel and debut series. Described as “a great job of relaying the realistic emotions of young love and emotional drama that is particularly difficult for young adults…”, his debut romance novel was met with much success.
In 2021, Tyler began writing short stories. He was accepted into several anthologies in mid-2021, expected for publication in early 2022. He also writes supernatural horror and historical fantasy for the online magazines In the Pantheon and In the Crescent. He has work published through Five Minute Affairs as well.
He built his website www.TeaButWithCoffee.com in 2021. On this site, he started his blogging journey. He began writing book reviews, interviewing indie authors, and writing on mental health. This passion sparked a new desire to connect with more people. Tyler is currently in the beginning stages of two podcasts that he hopes to be live by the end of 2021.
Tyler currently lives in Leland, North Carolina with his wife, Grace, and dogs, Dutch and Belle.
You can find him and his works here: https://linktr.ee/wittkofsky
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Tyler Wittkofsky 