To pivot or to persevere? Or more bluntly – to give up or to not to give up? This is a haunting question, a question that has ramifications far after an answer has been chosen and it’s also a question that almost everyone in our community has had to face at one time or another. How do you know when to give up and when to keep trying?

Kristen Thomasino | Severe Fibromyalgia Recovery Patient

What would you do if you were losing your mobility? I overcame a debilitating condition called Fibromyalgia, accidents and injuries that left me struggling to function in my late 30s. My Doctor told me it would take me years to recover my abilities and it would hurt a lot. I had to decide then if I was going to be committed to my rehabilitation and everyday after that to stay positive through the excruciating pain and setbacks that happened as I spent 150+ weeks focused on restoring my abilities. Read more>>

Marco Gutierrez | Owner of Comet Collectibles

The thought of opening Comet Collectibles came from opportunity. I really only started selling toys and collectibles because I needed to make space to continue growing my personal collection of Star Wars and anime toys. At a local toy show here in Tucson in 2020, right on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, I lucked out when a mutual friend of mine told me he wanted to get out of the toy selling game. At that time, I was working out of state in the cement and construction business with my father, but I knew I could sell the action figures and other collectibles my friend was selling very cheap for a profit, so I asked him to sell me product he had stockpiled in his garage on a weekly basis. Read more>>

Walter Martin | Photographer

It is not an easy thing to know when to keep going or to give up. In my personal journey, I have started as a writer to a photographer and there have been several successes and failures I’ve endured. But when I used to work on film sets back when I was in college, the one thing that the most experienced crew members would tell me is to keep an open mind because sometimes you’ll have some idea of what you want to do, but then you start doing something else that you think you may hate or loath and you find out that you actually love it once you start doing it. And I find that to be so true. Read more>>