I love when a piece scares me into thinking the author has gone off the tracks, and then surprises me with conclusions I know to be true. Those bits of writing advice you were writing down are anathema to me. Reminds me of when someone I thought to be a friend told me, "I wish you would stop writing so much about yourself." Every good writer knows that is our greatest source of material. And really the only thing we have to build on, even if we don't have to treat it literally as a memoir. In any case, I love your conclusions and your "return" to yourself. Which in turn made for a truly compelling piece. Thank you.