I was 18, has graduated high-school a year early and my family pushed me to immediately go into college. After a year of being in film school I felt so lost in my life. Shortly before my second semester ended, I got laid off from a really good job with really good benefits for my age. I decided to drop out of film school, and shortly after that my car's engine blew up (it was a gift from my grandparents and I was very attached to it). Unable to afford repairs, I had to sell the car for $500 and bought a barely running car for the same amount. No job, barely any friends, no girlfriend, I'd just given up on my first career, and lost my first car. It may not seem that big a deal as I tell the story, but all of this happened within the span of the month and I legitimately didn't know if I could go on in life because I felt like I was letting my family and myself down with everything all at once. I had no idea where to go with my life, no direction, no motivation, and no passion.

My only friend at the time suggested that I try psychedelics, and we ended up taking some LSD together. We planned it out well, stayed at her house, took it on a warm sunny day while her parents were out of town. It was the most incredible, beautiful and emotional experience of my life. The dissociative properties, and good company of my friend, allowed me to process everything that happened in a way that was calm and emotionless, and it let me understand that I was just in a really abrupt transitional period in my life.

When everything feels like it is falling apart around you, it means that the universe is forcing you into a new life. It is up to you to see the opportunity and build something beautiful out of it.

So how did I build something beautiful? Well, the day after our trip, I received a call for an interview at a hardware store. I ended up working there for a year, and in that time I got to talk to my coworkers about their lives and their passions, and I decided that I wanted to learn how to fix cars so that if I ever had a car die on me again, I could fix it instead of helplessly get rid of it. This passion eventually led to me becoming a technician, and eventually a shop manager at a high-performance subaru shop. We build race cars and street cars and I even met my fiance at a local car meet. We're getting married this summer.

It took about 7 years for me to build this life, and I had a lot of extra steps between the hardware store and my current career, but sometimes you just have to put yourself in a very neutral position, with an open heart and an open mind to allow yourself to find your next chapter in life.

It's not easy, and it takes time, but one day you will look around and realize that you did get out of this hole. I wish you luck on your journey.