On this day a year ago, I walked out through the same fence I stared at for three years.

Five years of chaos, pain, and loneliness came to a conclusion that day.

I didn’t know what lay ahead. I had goals. I had ideas. I had plans. But let’s be real — making plans in prison and actually following through? That’s stuff of legends

I didn’t know if I’d find a job.

I didn’t know if my addiction would come find me like it had so many times before.

I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

Prison strips you of everything that makes you you. It either changes you for the better or for the worse — and I had no idea which one it did to me.

I walked back into a world with COVID and a million other changes since I’d been gone. It was overwhelming.

If I had to describe that day in one word: uncertainty.

But I told myself walking out those doors — “never again.”

And it’s been a year since.

In one year I’ve built a life I couldn’t even picture back then.

A great job. Health insurance. An apartment.

A healthy relationship. Bank accounts.

A real support system — people who would move mountains for me, and I’d do the same for them.

I help run The Rock Foundation’s social media and help create a path for others in the same position I was in. I’ve helped friends get sober and find housing. I’ve learned that just telling my story can help someone else. And I haven’t gone bacc since.

I didn’t know what life would look like when I got out — but I never imagined I’d be this far ahead, doing the things I’m doing today. It’s mind-blowing.

All I can say is this: it’s not impossible. I promise there’s a way out. You just have to put in the work.

Get sober.

Get out of the way.

Get a job.

Get your bag up.

Take over the world.

There’s no other option.

To the ones who stuck with me through it all — thank you. When I get rich, you get rich

And to the ones who left — thank you too. I used that as fuel

Stay blessed. Stay free.