Nightmare Success IN and OUT Thanksgiving Gratitude

Taking a Break from the Interviews

Okay Nightmare Success lifters, we’re doing something different this week. I’m taking a pause from the interviews to share what’s on my heart as we head into Thanksgiving. Don’t worry though. I’ve got some great conversations in the queue that I can’t wait for you to hear.

But right now, I wanted to step back and talk about gratitude. Real gratitude. The kind that comes from knowing what it feels like to be without.

The Holidays Hit Different When You’re Locked Up

“It wasn’t too long ago that I wasn’t able to be with my family and the guys I interview, they know that feeling of the holidays in prison, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, those were the worst,” I told listeners this week. “It just makes you feel as low as low and as lonely as you can be, knowing that you can’t be with your family and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

That’s the reality for thousands of people this Thursday. While families gather around tables loaded with food, there are men and women sitting in chow halls, counting down the hours until the holiday passes. The guys I talk to on this show remember those Thanksgivings. They remember the phone calls home that felt too short and cost too much. They remember trying to act okay when their kids asked when daddy was coming home.

I remember it too. The weight of missing holidays, missing birthdays, missing the ordinary Tuesday dinners that you don’t realize are precious until you can’t have them anymore.

Tomorrow Changes Everything

“But getting out and knowing tomorrow I’m gonna be with my family, gonna enjoy it, I never wanna lose that feeling because it’s so good, family’s the best,” I shared. That’s what I’m holding onto this year. Tomorrow I’ll be around a table with my people. We’ll probably argue about politics or sports or who’s bringing what dish. Someone will tell the same story they tell every year. The food might be too salty or the turkey might be dry.

And it will be perfect.

“And even if you’ve got people with different personalities, different political views, whatever, it’s still good for everybody to be together, eat, have fun, have some drinks,” I said. Because when you’ve been without your family, you learn that those differences don’t matter as much as you thought they did. What matters is being there. Being present. Being free to choose to show up.

I think about the guys from my interviews who are spending their first Thanksgiving home in years, maybe decades. I think about how the mashed potatoes probably taste different when you can get up and walk away from the table whenever you want. When you can help clean the dishes or step outside for air or drive to the store if someone forgot the cranberry sauce.

Freedom lives in those tiny choices.

This Podcast Fills Me Up

“And the other thing is, I am feeling so much gratitude for being able to do this podcast, to be able to have my guys on the show and share their stories and create a platform to connect and really define some commonality with everyone,” I explained to listeners. “It’s been a good feeling and I really appreciate the support.”

When I started Nightmare Success, I wasn’t sure anyone would listen. I wasn’t sure anyone would care about the stories of people who’d been where I’d been. But you do care. You listen. You share these episodes with friends. You leave comments that show you really heard what these guys are saying.

That means everything to me.

“I appreciate the listeners, the likes and everything about it. It really fills me up. Very, very much appreciated,” I shared, and I meant every word. This podcast has become something I never expected. It’s become a bridge between worlds that usually don’t talk to each other. When someone writes to tell me that hearing one of these stories changed how they think about people coming home from prison, that’s when I know we’re doing something that matters.

Every week, I get to talk to people who’ve walked through hell and found their way to something better. Not perfect. Not fairy tale endings. But better. Real better. And every week, I learn something about what it means to rebuild a life from the ground up.

The Book Is Here

“Just yesterday, my book made it onto Amazon and you can buy it on Kindle or you can buy the book,” I announced. “So if you’re looking for something over the weekend, this is Nightmare Success. It’s my life story. I’m excited about this.”

Seeing my story in print still feels surreal. All those years of thinking my life was over, that I’d destroyed everything that mattered, and now here’s this book with my name on it. Available on Amazon like any other book. Like I’m any other author.

The book covers a lot of what we don’t get into on the podcast. The details of how everything fell apart. The specific moments when I realized I wasn’t who I thought I was. The long, slow process of figuring out who I actually wanted to be.

“So if you wanna go get it, it’s pretty easy. Amazon’s always easy to get stuff,” I said, because that’s true. But getting to the point where I had a story worth telling took years of work that wasn’t easy at all.

What I’m Grateful For This Year

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for second chances. I’m grateful for a family that stuck with me when I didn’t deserve it. I’m grateful for the men who trust me with their stories on this show. I’m grateful for listeners who see past the worst thing someone has ever done and recognize the person they’re becoming.

I’m grateful that tomorrow I’ll wake up in my own bed, in my own house, and drive myself to a family dinner where I’ll eat too much and probably fall asleep watching football. Simple things that feel like miracles when you remember what it’s like to live without them.

Mostly, I’m grateful that the story doesn’t end with the worst chapter. For me, for the guests on this show, for anyone who thinks they’ve burned their life down beyond repair. There are more chapters to write.

“Everybody, I wanna wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for listening. I appreciate it so much,” I said at the end of this week’s episode. And I meant it. Whether you’re spending tomorrow with family or you’re counting down the hours in a place where freedom feels impossible, I’m thinking about you.

Your story isn’t over yet.