You Can’t Fully Appreciate Something Until You Experience Its Opposite

It took losing my freedom to fully understand freedom.

Freedom is complex; it’s much more than the physical parameters of prison.

A choice as small as “Do I go left, or do I go right?” is freedom. And within that freedom, we can find magic.

We have to be open to see it and receive it.

Join me on my journey of rediscovering freedom after prison in this excerpt from my new book, “Blank Canvas, How I Reinvented My Life After Prison.”

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THIRTY-SEVEN

“To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”

— BUDDHA

It’s been a month since my release from the halfway house and my newfound freedom is settling in. I still question whether or not I can leave my home. Will someone be looking for me? Am I breaking the law?

In an instant, fear rushes in. It’s the fear of going back, fear of not wanting to make a mistake. Fear of walking out my apartment door. It’s an awful feeling. I come back to reality. I remember I am free. I remember I can walk out of my apartment without permission.