"It’s hard to say exactly when All Manner of Things began.

 

"Whether it started when I watched my eldest daughter broach her sexuality in an all too familiar haze of low self worth and self doubt. Or witnessed my son struggle to keep track of himself as he made the transition from boy to man. Or if it was my fruitless search for a resource that would offer my youngest daughter a helpful perspective on sex.

 

"Whatever the moment of germination, when I started writing I was coming out of a deep dive into conscious sexuality, and had been teaching and studying matters of the spirit and heart for some time. I knew the book would be for young people, with a focus on re-framing sex, and thought 150 pages or so and a few months of writing would do it.

 

"The first chapters were easy. Body changes and reproductive sex. I wanted readers to be on the same page, with the giggles and taboos out of the closet from the get go.

 

"When I finished drafting Chapter Three, ‘Most Sex Is Not About Making Babies’, I came to a stop. Because there it was in front of me, in black and white. Most of the reasons we’re sexual, especially when we’re young, are because we're insecure, or don’t know ourselves very well at all. We want to be liked, or get respect, we feel pressure or obligation. We think sex means love or power, and a lot of the time there’s some powerful attraction that we’ve no idea what to do with or if it’s even normal.

 

"In that moment, it dawned on me: the book I was writing was a much bigger conversation than I’d anticipated. If most young people were operating from a foundation that was, on some level unstable, the first question was why? And the second was how to help?

 

"That was some time ago and a lot has happened since.

 

"When I’ve doubted what I'm doing, something has come along to refuel me. My own children have lost their footing, or grappled with the feeling of not wanting to be alive. Or their friends have, or friends of friends, or just about every young person I’ve known or heard of. Making me realize I can’t put the blinkers on or turn away.

 

“Because what kind of a world are we living in if young people hurting themselves or obsessing over their appearance or social status is considered normal or okay? And how can we be at peace in a culture that demonizes those who act out, hurt others, or make questionable choices around drugs, alcohol, or sex, instead of addressing the possibility something is going on underneath?

 

"While I’m not exactly sure when it started, without my knowing it, All Manner of Things has become, and continues to be, a life-changing, ever-informing journey."