Before You Can Let Go of The Past, You Must Accept The Past

Acceptance is freedom; acceptance is the key to moving forward.

Acceptance was critical to rebuilding and reinventing my life after losing everything.

I wrote about acceptance in my new book, “Blank Canvas, How I Reinvented My Life After Prison”; I’ve shared an excerpt below and would be ever so grateful if you checked it out.

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TWENTY-THREE

“God grant us the serenity to accept the things we

cannot change, the courage to change the things we

can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

— REINHOLD NIEBUHR

I spend half of my time wishing I wasn’t in prison,

the other half wishing I had made a different choice. I fantasize about going back in time to the day I discovered the loophole I exploited. I see myself at the dining room table, staring at my laptop. A black-and-white composition notebook to my right, the pages filled with notes, yellow Post-its stuck everywhere. I look like John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.

The puzzle pieces were coming together. I had discovered a treasure map that only I knew about. I feel the excitement I felt, the pure rush of it all. My performance at work was not…