Throughout the entire process of writing and releasing Mishaps & Mistakes, there was one question in particular that kept coming up, “Why are you writing this book?” There were lots of other questions that usually followed this one, but I don’t even have an accurate count as to how often it was asked. So, to be transparent and to make my life a heck of a lot easier, I figured I’d just write it out for you all to see.
When I left the airline life behind just before Christmas of 2023, I felt as if I had lost a major part of my personality. I had turned an underpaid job title and lifestyle into a major facet of my being. Accompanying this major life change was the worst heartbreak I’d experienced yet in my romantic life. Because of this sick combination, you can only imagine how incredibly off track I felt. I spent the vast majority of 2024 trying to rediscover who I was, who I TRULY was. I did not want to be consumed by a career or a man anymore. Everything going on in my life was too new to hold such a big piece of me. Throughout all of this, I journaled. A long-forgotten art that I had not done in so long but making it a common part of my routine was helping me put the pieces of my identity back together.
In between my journaling sessions, I would tell stories to new and old friends over drinks or lunches. They all told me things like, “Your life is like a movie.” And for a long time, it damn sure felt that way. I found that funny because one of my hobbies in high school and college was writing screenplays. I wrote over thirty, including a ten-episode series, over the span of five years. I began to reread my screenplays in 2024 and the emotions I had kept inside for so long were beginning to spill over. It was a rainy October afternoon when I decided I wanted to use my writing in a bigger way. I wanted to share my own story (and maybe some of my fictional ones) just in case it helps someone figure out their own flood of feelings.
My mindset has always been that I deserve a life that turns into a story worth telling. But it needed to be a story that people could connect with and feel human again when they hear it. I struggled with this idea because I did not know what people would say or how they would react with my candid thoughts and feelings being out there in the public view. I had to mentally prepare for the aftermath. People could hate me, but they could also be grateful for me being strong enough to do something like this. I used to teach my new hire flight attendants that confidence is the most important character trait. I needed to take my own advice and be confident.
I took the first seven months of 2025 to write the initial draft of Mishaps & Mistakes. It was grueling and difficult trying to relive memories I had long suppressed. I knew it would be, and I had accepted that, but it was so cathartic that it became a worthy struggle. I also made the decision to self-publish towards the end of the process. While working with a major publishing company would have made my life a lot easier and would have alleviated some of the faults still present in my book, I held this project so close to my heart that I wanted to maintain a hundred and ten percent control. I wanted it to be as real and messy as possible. That’s my message after all. When you realize that the messy middle isn’t such a horrible place, life becomes so much more beautiful.
It has been just about a month since I released Mishaps & Mistakes. It’s been a magical month to say the least. Getting everything out of my system and putting something into the world healed parts of me I did not know needed healing. I really hope that someone who reads it feels that same sensation. I genuinely do not care what opinions people make about me or my story. I know my intentions behind it, and I know what good it has done in such a small amount of time. My halo may not be totally straightened out yet, but I sure am getting closer to it every day. And I have to say that I am very proud of that. I always will be.
Joseph Jarrett 
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