Picture this: I'm young, foolish, and sporting rose-tinted glasses thicker than the Great Wall of China. I'm rubbing elbows with folks that I wouldn't let my dog hang out with today (AND BOY, DOES THAT RABBIT HOLE OF REGRET GO DEEP). I'd find myself being with people I really didn't want to be with, pressured into doing things I didn't really want to be doing, and being in places I didn't really want to be at. Hanging out with friends is supposed to be fun, but for me it was a whole lot of getting myself in trouble, followed quickly by soloing the nasty consequences.

Even when every red light in my head was flashing like a broken disco ball screaming, RUN! GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE NOW!! DO YOU HEAR ME? OMG, FOR THE LOVE OF CHEESE AND CRACKERS, RUN!!!

I stayed right there.

What I was completely oblivious to back then was the inevitable truth about choice. See, by its very nature, choice is a picky beast—it's saying 'yes' to one thing and slamming the door shut on other possibly better options. It's like standing in front of a buffet of life's offers and going 'Oh, I'll have the sketchy gas station sushi, please.' And when that bad sushi turns out to be your so-called friends (or even partner), believe me, that's a recipe for disaster.

Think of decisions like hurling a stone into a serene pond. That splash, that ripple effect—it spirals out from every decision, morphing into a tidal wave of new troubles, ready to drown you. That, my friends, is how your life hurtles off the rails.

Good friends care about you, want the best for you, and sometimes, are even the voice of reason talking you down off the ledge when life is being a huge pain in the ass. Bad friends only care about themselves and leave behind a trail of situations that cost time, money, and quite a few tears to deal with–like lost loves, good friends jumping ship, self-esteem nosedives, job losses, or worse situations like court dates, jail time, hospital visits, or living on the street.

The truth is: You pick your friends like you pick your clothes – based on your style. And back then, my style was influenced by low self-esteem, loneliness from being abandoned, and a shit-ton of emotional damage –ergo a judgment problem. When you're a hot mess, your good friend options are limited. People who have their shit together do not want to be around a train-wreck. And who can blame them?

Trying to figure out how to go through life when you're young is like going on a vacation by train. At first, it's all adrenaline and excitement. You prep, buy your ticket, hop on board, but by the time the train chugs off – you're so tired, you fall asleep. Next thing you know, you've snoozed past your stop. Your train is way past where you were supposed to get off, and you don't know what you should do.

One thing's for sure, you don't want to admit you're in the wrong place with the wrong people. And getting back to where you belong means you're going to have to take another train you're not familiar with and not prepared for.

So you freeze, then decide to ride it out to the very last stop–even though there's nothing else for you during the rest of the ride. It sounds crazy, but it's exactly what happens when we stay involved with the wrong people and on the wrong path instead of admitting we've made a mistake and slamming on the brakes.

It's human nature, we hate to admit our mistakes, or waste our time. So we choose to stay where we are –thinking we're just gonna play it cool and it'll all work out. But what we're really doing is letting those past mistakes control our future.

Until you reach the end.. and something clicks and you think, "Wait, What the hell?! What the hell am I doing here?! Because once you realize fear of admitting a mistake, or wasting your time, or being alone is exactly what's keeping you trapped– YOU ARE FREE! FREEEEEE!!!!

Besides, you've already wasted the time, and you're not getting that back no matter what you do next. Whatever mistakes you've made do not matter. They are the past –even if that past was 5 minutes ago. What does matter is what you decide to do right now, and how much guts you have.

On the surface, walking away from people often looks a whole hell of a lot like going nowhere—until you think about what you stand to gain.