It was around three years ago in March of 2023 when I hit rock bottom. I had not been good mentally for a few months before that but in March, boy it got rough. On one of my darkest days, my best friend calls me out of the blue and we talked for nearly five hours. When is the last time you talked to someone on the phone for five hours? Sure, back in 1984 when I was sixteen, but not since then.
I call that moment divine intervention because I was almost done. I asked him why he called and he said something told him that he needed to reach out. We both know that was a God moment where He could get my attention with my best friend calling me. As we talked, he kept telling me to get into therapy, somehow and some way. Wait! You mean big and bad and tough guys go to therapy? Nonsense. The more we talked the more I knew that in order to save me, I had to go to talk to someone.
I went to therapy and with God’s grace and mercy and love, I got better. I got a lot better. In fact, I got rid of ego and pride and discovered humility and gratitude. Amazing. I knew what those words meant but I didn’t KNOW what they meant. Now I do and they have changed my life.
After I started therapy, I wrote an article called “Go Talk To Someone.” Encouraging and urging men to open up and go to therapy. I put my email address in the story and said contact me if you are unsure about any of this. I had so many men reach out to me that it was equally powerful and shocking. Men carrying around so much emotional baggage with nowhere to put it? We needed to act quickly, I thought. This opened my eyes and I knew God had a new mission for me.
Three years later and I am thriving to His grace and love. Here is my email address again and please reach out at anytime. BigJoeOnTheGo@gmail.com. Everything is anonymous and no one will ever know. I am so honored and humbled that so many reached out to me got the world off of their chest and their mind. My goal is to get you talking, go to therapy and find a deep relationship with God. I read that most men lead lives of quiet desperation and we are going to change that. Ben Franklin said “Most men die at 25; but we bury them at 70.” That hit me hard and I hope it does you.
How are we doing, I ask? Better than I deserve and I pray if you are in that dark place, reach out. If the good Lord can change me, he can certainly change you.
