My Story...

This isn’t some feel-good comeback story. This is real life—scraped knees, busted pride, and starting from nothing.

Not long ago, I had what most people would call a “good life.” Solid job. Family. House in a quiet neighborhood. If you looked at me from the outside, you’d think I had it all together. But behind that smile was a storm I couldn’t control. Depression had settled in deep, and no one saw it. Or maybe they did and just didn’t know what to say.

I made mistakes. Big ones. Ones that came with consequences. I broke the law, got arrested, and for the first time in my life, I found myself behind bars. I took a plea deal—not because I believed it was fair, but because the odds were stacked and I didn’t see another way out.

Prison changes you. Not in the ways people think. It strips you down, shows you who’s really there for you, and who disappears when things get uncomfortable. My spouse said they’d stick around, and for a while, they did. But near the end of my sentence, things shifted. The calls got shorter. The letters stopped. One day I found out—secondhand—that our marriage was over. My kids knew before I did.

I was six months from getting out and already behind the starting line. No car. No job. No money. No ID. Not even a place to sleep. The system doesn’t hand you a map. It barely hands you a second chance. People say “fresh start,” but most doors are already locked before you even knock.

I had to fight for every step—healthcare, housing, work, even the right to be seen as more than my worst mistake. And most of the time, it felt like I was doing it alone.

I started this blog because I’m tired of pretending. Tired of the silence. Some people don’t want me telling this story. They don’t want to be in it, even though they were. But this is my life, and I won’t apologize for speaking the truth.

I’m not here for pity. I’m here to show what it really looks like to fall—and to get back up. This story isn’t clean. It isn’t comfortable. But it’s honest. And maybe that’s what someone out there needs to hear.

This is me. This is Down But Not Out.