50 First Dates with Chris HVMMINGBYRD

There was a time when my life felt like a live-action nightmare. For a while, I believed recovery meant forcing myself to stay positive. I tried living at 50/50—half sadness, half happiness—telling myself everything would be okay. But if I'm honest, that version of hope felt forced. Today, I see recovery differently. I live by what I call the  70/30 mindset . Seventy percent is choosing gratitude,...

Last year I couldn't speak. After brain surgery, aphasia, and a long recovery journey, I found myself learning how to communicate all over again. In this episode I explore what happens when illness or injury forces us to become students of our own bodies. From learning about the brain and nervous system to understanding stress, advocacy, healing, and resilience, this reflection dives into the...

Hi, it’s Christopher… and this space… it’s not about perfection— it’s about truth, lived experience, and the courage to speak when your voice has had to be rebuilt. Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down once again with my great friend, Victoria Charles—an incredible social worker whose insight, compassion, and lived experience bring so much depth to this conversation. Together, we dive into so...

What does it mean to  engineer your life —not for perfection, but for survival, healing, and truth? In this episode, I sit down with a  woman engineer  whose perspective reshaped how I understand structure, intention, and design—not just in systems, but in how we live, love, and heal. Together, we explore how engineering principles can translate into everyday life: how we build relationships, how...

This episode is called  Hopeful Realism. There was a chapter of my life where everything turned upside down… and somehow, I was still expected to move like nothing happened. People would say, “he’s so lucky,” but they didn’t see the silence I was holding… the confusion, the fear… the moments where my own mind didn’t feel like mine. I was showing up to weddings, to photoshoots— while my brain was f...

In this conversation with Victoria an amazing social worker, we speak about the kind of empathy you cannot learn from a textbook. You learn it by living through something that rearranges your entire life. After surviving a stroke and brain surgery, I found myself standing in shoes I never imagined wearing. Suddenly I understood the quiet moments inside hospital rooms, the vulnerability of patients...

In this reflection, I talk about discovering another unexpected chapter in my healing story — an  ischemic stroke  I didn’t even know I had until last month. It was terrifying to learn about something I had already lived through without understanding it at the time. I felt the symptoms. I experienced the confusion, the fear, the disconnect — but I believed it was all part of the brain abscess. Som...

Today’s episode is stitched with memory — dance floors, college hallways, and the wild way life circles us back to our people. We met at eighteen, two kids in a dance class who had no idea the world would bend and twist us into who we are now. Years passed, and somehow she found her way back into my orbit — right into the studio where I was teaching my own class… just two days before my stroke. An...

Hi, I’m Chris — and this is  50 First Reflections; Chris’s Diary . Six months ago, I went through brain surgery that changed everything — the way I speak, the way I see the world, even how I understand myself. Somewhere along this journey, I also discovered that I’m autistic… and it felt like finally finding a missing piece of me that was there all along. This space is my diary — my safe place to...

This week’s episode is a little different — it’s raw, it’s tender, it’s love after survival. 🐦‍🔥I sit down with my partner to talk about what it means to rebuild a life together after brain surgery.we dive into: ​how our love story evolved through trauma and healing ​the unseen emotional work behind recovery ​advice for partners supporting someone through brain surgery or PTSD ​finding beauty ag...

In this episode of  50 First Dates with Chris HVMMINGBYRD , I reflect on the truth that healing takes time. From surviving brain surgery to navigating aphasia and all others, I share a heartfelt perspective on patience, resilience, and the courage to embrace each day as part of the journey. With flirty humor and poetic honesty, I invite you to see recovery not as a race, but as a love story with y...

Step into the very first moments of  50 First Dates with Chris HVMMINGBYRD , a podcast that blends love, resilience, and rediscovery. After surviving brain surgery and living with aphasia, Chris shares what it means to embrace life like every encounter is a first date — full of gratitude, curiosity, and hope. Expect flirty conversations, poetic reflections, and inspiring stories that will remind y...