i had to let go
The first time I let go, it felt like skydiving without a parachute; I thought I would spiral downward through the air and crash into the ground. I didn’t know what was waiting for me on the other side of that release, which is probably why I held on so long.
Being a teenager didn’t help. When I became a father at 18, my mind had already been trained to believe that my value was tied to what I could provide.