San Jose native and Menlo College alum Nate Jackson writes earnestly about life after success in the NFL

Nate Jackson’s life after the NFL is not what you might expect. (Photo by Jack Dempsey)

I have heard the letters C T and E so many fucking times, the question becomes: When I am struggling in the “real world,” is it because I am conditioned for a different reality? Or because I actually have brain damage? Nobody knows, because frustration can read as dementia. It’s the world that drives us mad, not football! It’s the way people communicate: Vague. Non-committal. Via text. Email. Waiting for a response. Fake smiles and faker laughs. Superlatives and exclamation points and the making of plans that never come to fruition. Sorry for the delayed response, things are crazy over here. “Really?” I want to say. “How crazy?” Every conversation is a game of double-dutch and I cant seem to time it up.