Finding My Way Forward

I’m Corey Feldman, a real estate professional, lifelong learner, and someone deeply committed to personal growth. If you found this page looking for the latest news and trends in the DCMetro Real Estate Market, head on over to my other Substack @Real Estate, Real Stories with Corey Feldman!

The path to resilience and acceptance is one I've been exploring for a while—a journey I believe we're all on, in our own ways. Almost eleven years ago, I was emerging from a decade marked by daily gaslighting and attacks on my self-esteem. I was convinced by someone I trusted that I had serious, organic mental health issues. By the end, I was certainly in crisis, but I eventually found that my symptoms were situational. Once that relationship ended, and I was off the medications I didn't need, I began to find myself again.

I spent a couple of years healing. Over time, I rebuilt my confidence and met my best friend—now my wife. While I'd like to say I'm completely healed, the truth is, I still have moments when anxiety surfaces. It's nothing like it was, and depression hasn't returned, but occasionally, panic still shows up.

Like it did on election night. Pain from an infection woke me, and when I checked my phone seeing the election results, a wave of panic hit so fast I barely made it to the bathroom in time to throw up. I lay in bed for 45 minutes, focusing on my breathing. The anxiety still coursed through me—until suddenly, it didn't. A thought floated up: acceptance of what I couldn't change. And like a switch flipping, everything shifted. Where there had been chaos, I found calm, quickly fell back asleep and have mostly maintained that sense of peace since.

This isn't a story about politics. It's about transformation. About how our hardest moments—the ones that bring us to our knees—can become doorways to something new. The pain didn't vanish. The fears didn't disappear. But my relationship to them fundamentally changed.

Now, I stand at a crossroads. I can fall back into familiar patterns of resistance and fear, or I can embrace this new way of being—one that finds strength in acceptance and peace in the midst of uncertainty.

This isn't about reaching a destination. It's about learning to move differently through the world. About finding balance when everything seems to be tilting. About discovering that even in our most vulnerable moments, transformation is possible.

So why am I writing this? Writing helps me process and reframe my experiences, and if sharing these moments brings others a sense of calm or clarity, then I'm grateful to share this path with you.

In the posts ahead, I'll be exploring various aspects of this journey - from books that have shifted my perspective to moments of challenge and growth. Some posts might be short reflections, others deeper dives into tools and insights I'm finding helpful. I don't have all the answers - or even most of them - but I'm learning to be okay with that uncertainty.

What I do know is that transformation isn't a straight line. It's a series of moments, choices, and sometimes unexpected shifts. I hope you'll join me in exploring what it means to move through life with more acceptance and less resistance, one step at a time.