As a young man, I felt inadequate in life.

I never did well in school. I felt like I was in this large holding pen until I was old enough to go out alone.

I had a sense of self. I viewed my life quite differently than Dick and Jane saw theirs and became resentful of how I was forced to live in their world.

I was thirty-two when I decided I needed a change. I moved to the country, arranged my life so I only had to work three to four months out of the year, and started my journey.

I worked at my craft and old farmhouse, rode my bike for miles on the surrounding back roads, and read a lot.

Being free to read what I wanted to change my life. I chose subjects that interested me: psychology, philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, and transcendentalism.

I began to narrow my focus to creativity—the simple act of trial and error, thinking and doing.

Realizing I had everything I had always needed inside me freed me to live the life I wanted. I became more aware of the world around me, and balanced with my newfound freedom of being inner-directed, I began to create myself.

I became more secure in my thoughts, not because I knew so much, but because I learned how to find the best solution with the information I had at the time through my creative thinking. Even if I was wrong, I could quickly reevaluate and move on.

If I had met Marcia and her five children in my thirties or early forties, I never would have considered myself ready for such an adventure. In my later forties, with my newfound freedom of thought, I felt prepared to begin the most extraordinary journey of my life.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.