It was only when I lost my way that I came across the path I was always meant to find.

But it took me spinning out.

It took me losing my sight as my vision disappeared from behind my eyes.

I had to feel truly lost. I had to look up to the sky for guidance. I had to come back to the things that guide me and ask “what’s next?” over and over again. For the longest time there was dead silence. So I continued to wander. I continued to search around the corners and find nothing.

I came out of the end of last year beaten, bruised, exhausted, and had nothing left in me. I didn’t have any gas left…I had spent it all doing the best I could with what I had. I burned out completely.

And there I sat night after night on my kitchen floor writing a story that continued to wear me down. I relived it over and over again. In a sense, I was tortured by the very thing that was cleansing me at the same time…

A catharsis that acted as a baptism by fire.

So I healed and I burned at the same time.

No one promised me that any of this would be easy. No one even suggested that would be the case. In fact, if I had any opinion of this journey over the past 5 years I would say that it is beyond worth it…but incredibly painful at times.

You get hammered into what you need to become. You are molded and restructured through lessons that are not the easiest things to swallow. Lessons that drive you mad at times. Lessons that you know you need to learn, powerful lessons, but at time wish that whatever is guiding this would make it a little bit easier to get?

Nope.

As I look back, about to commence into the biggest project I’ve ever undertaken, I understand that the greatest lessons I have ever learned have come through the most painful times of my life. It was only through understanding this that everything was brought into perspective.

The importance of love…through the most unloving relationships.

The importance of passion…through great spurts of not having any motivation.

The importance of never quitting…through quitting on myself.

I learned all of these things…things that have become foundational to my character…through the absence of them. That never ceases to amaze me.

And as hard as some of these times have been, I’ve never stopped learning. But most importantly, I’m still here. I have survived 100% of the bad days that have come my way.

In no way was today a bad day, but to articulate the point…well, I think you get it.

Yesterday was 3 months to the day that I walked into the biggest moment of my life…a moment that changed me forever and set the tone for the next chapter.

But after that moment and the events that followed it, I found myself in the woods. I didn’t know how I got there. I didn’t understand which way to go. I had no sense of what was next for me and which path to take.

There was no path.

There was only me, all alone out there, waiting for answers.

For months I wandered…continuing to learn lessons of patience. For months I asked myself the questions that truly mattered. And yet, no answers. It was only until my mind stopped running and I let my heart speak that I found exactly what I was looking for.

That moment came late last night.

That moment hit me like a sack of bricks.

I spent 15 years dreaming of something that at the start I never thought I would be able to accomplish…but eventually through it all I walked into that moment and seized it. I walked into a moment that I would never forget, and frankly, seems still a bit surreal to me.

But after that was gone…there was no “moment” to experience again.

It was just me. No goals. No dream I was chasing. Just me.

And you know what?

I realized, probably for the first time in my life, that I was completely happy with the man that I saw in the mirror. I also realized that it wasn’t the moment that made me…

But who I had become in order to step into that moment that mattered.

I wasn’t defined by the achievement. I was built into something I could be incredibly proud of through the years of trial and effort.

When that came upon me, I found the direction I knew I should head in. I knew exactly what the next step was. I knew that even though I had found the path…that the path would wind and turn in front of me…just as it always has.

Truth is, I’ve already started walking it.

These past three months healed me. Now, these new moments are each…

my redemption

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project