When you read that heading, you may be thinking to yourself, "back from what?". Back to just being me again. I'll explain. The last couple of years has been challenging to say the least. From getting divorced, my house burning down, losing someone very close to me in an unnecessary way and my poor beloved dog Sookie dying. It was a lot. So, what happened was, I went into my own personal shell. Outside of work, I kinda kept to myself. While dealing with all the things life threw at me and remaining positive. I never lost faith that things would get better and eventually they did. I had to keep a strong face every day because I couldn't let my son see that I was hurting inside. Praying and meditating every day was the keys to get through it all. I surrounded my personal life with time with my son and the great group of friends that I have. Hanging with them, I was just their friend. No talk of the drama I was going through unless I brought it up. If I felt like crying, they just let me without judgement. But during this time, they would do things I wouldn't go and they understood. They took a group vacation without me. I just wasn't ready. In town, I was very selective to places I would go. I didn't want people asking about my failed marriage, the fire or the losing Sookie. Those were questions I just didn't want to answer at the time. People felt sorry for me and I hated that. I know it was out of love and concern but I hated that feeling. So, to avoid that, I made my world very small. Just only hanging with my son on the weekends I had him and usually doing nothing on the weekend I didn't. That was my life for a while and I was cool with it.
During this time, I became reconnected with a friend I hadn't talk to in 10 years. She was good friend and we just fell apart over time. Every Friday, I would go to the movies by myself, shortly after I got off the air. One Friday, I asked if she wanted to go and she was free that day. I'll never forget, after the movie, we walked over to a bar across from the theater and talked. It had been so long since I openly talked to someone outside of my friends. I think I talked nonstop for 2 hours. I said everything about everything I was going through. It felt good, like a ton weight had been lifted off my back. After that we started hanging out more and more usually on weekends when I didn't have my son. Even then, I kept my world small, I just wasn't ready to jump back into the real-life social world.
Slowly, I started doing and going out more. I started to expand my world again. When I saw people, they would ask about the events of my past and I gave brief answers. It was still uncomfortable but I did it. I started to reconnect with people I hadn't talked to in years. I started to feel like me again. This past weekend, I got my group of friends together and went to the Martin Lawrence comedy show. Then, Saturday I got my "boys' together and we hung out all day. We hit several different spots to watch college football and support a charity event. Each stop we made, listeners would come up and just give me so much love. It touched my heart the amount of love I was receiving from people. Every stop we made, people would just come up and introduce themselves and show love. It was beautiful! No one was asking about the past events, just people happy to see me out. When you put yourself in a bubble, you seem to forget that people do care and appreciate what you do. So, for all the people I met over the weekend, that took a moment to say "hi", Thank YOU! Thank you for helping me feel like myself again. I'm back and opening my world to the way it was before everything happened. After this past weekend, I can say 1005 I"M BACK
When you see me out, please know you aren't being rude or bothering me when you want say hello. I appreciate all the love.
Johnny Magic