Going to Federal Prison Allowed Me to See Life Through New Eyes

I’m lucky I went to prison.

No, I should rephrase that; I’m grateful I transformed my personal tragedy into a second chance.

Because within that second chance, I get to experience something not many people get to experience.

Who I was, or rather, who I thought I was, didn’t exist anymore.

I burnt my former life to the ground and lived without an identity for years.

It was utterly excruciating and yet wickedly beautiful.

There’s great pain in not knowing who you are, especially when you were so sure of it, only to discover you had created a false idol.

I felt like an empty vessel floating on a sea of the unknown.

But within that emptiness and torture of the unknown lay an extraordinary gift.

Things I used to take for granted became new again.

Songs I’ve listened to thousands of times now carry new meaning, I don’t merely hear the lyrics; I listen and understand the lyrics.

Hikes in the woods are as if I’ve never done them before; colors are brighter, sounds more vivid, and smells are so much more profound.