I was unhappy and didn’t feel comfortable.
It took driving across the country alone to get a clean slate (3 years ago today I arrived in LA). And a new me. A fully embraced new version of me.
It’s the most beautiful thing we can have: a clean second chance.
You have to bury your old self. Let that shit go. It won’t help you to hold onto it.
The old you is dead. This is the new you. You are who you say you are. You are how you act now. Not yesterday and certainly not 10 years ago.
You have to let go.
Lay those burdens down. They are only holding you back. You can achieve so much more if you drop the negativity from the past, which you can’t change, and focus on what you can do today to get better.
I clung to the past and the bitterness that came with it for soooo long.
I was angry most of the time because I felt alone and like the world was against me.
I was constantly frustrated. My frustration and negativity prevented me from being productive and making anything of substance. It hindered my writing too.
I got a real second chance: by moving to LA. And I ran with it. I’ve become so much more than I was in that past life.
The people who knew the Johnny Whitfield in TN have no idea who I am. They don’t know me. They knew a different person with the same name.
That was a past life. The Johnny of 5 years ago is gone forever. You knew him? I’m sorry. There was no funeral. He died somewhere in the desert of New Mexico.
The person you’re looking for started in April 2013. He’s almost 28 and doing much better. He loves life. People. He’s happy as hell and can’t be more glad he’s in LA.
You can get there too. Even if you don’t move thousands of miles from your hometown.
Bury the old you, the one that people keep in a box. The one you keep limited because you’ve convinced yourself that you aren’t worth more.
Become the version of you that only exists in your mind.
You can do it. I believe in you.