Taking the Mask off...

Stories guided by real life experiences and situations, this book is not about what to do or what not to do, it’s about getting you back to who you are, who you really are, that person at the core as a little girl or boy before the callus of life set in. It’s no longer a description of if your glass is half full or half empty, it’s now about how happy you are to have a glass.

What started out as daily journal entries that centered around losses, regrets, family, and the beauty of nature, all written during COVID isolation but covering the author’s entire life's experience were now over 150 handwritten short stories contained in four 5 x 7-inch memorandum books filled in front to back.

It took Keith L. Cooper six months to realize that his writings were more than simple journalling; they were therapy. Therapy that told a story of his movement from mind to heart, from being compartmentalized to being vulnerable, from seeking purpose over comfort, from moving from his name card to his calling card, from understanding that to really love someone else, you first needed to love yourself.

So, Keith invites readers to join him on part one of this non-judgmental journey representing over 65 of his short personal stories. Stories that represent someone who really had to turn the telescope of their life around and learn from each problem.

Yes, he continues to be on that uphill, rocky, slippery climb from thinking with his brain to feeling with his heart, but he is improving because now instead of asking, "Why me God?" Keith simply asks, "God, what are you trying to teach me?"

This book is about being vulnerable, taking the mask off is as much of a mental health discussion as a view point from someone who was trying to be someone he wasn’t. Keith, an Alaskan by nature, who went through West Point, branched in the Infantry then after Airborne and Ranger Training served 26 years in the Army. He was in the Pentagon when the planes hit on 9-11-2001, he then served as the Brigade commander in Egypt when the Iraq war broke out only to be later serving in that war the following year as the Chief of Staff of the 1st ID from 2004-2005. Think about it, if he can open up, so can you.