John,
Never underestimate the person you are capable of becoming. There is still so much possibility in front of you, and you have the strength to build something better for yourself.
You deserve a life that feels good to wake up to—a life filled with happiness, peace, purpose, and the things that make you genuinely proud.
No matter how difficult things get, there is always a reason to keep moving forward. You are worth fighting for, and there is still so much ahead of you.
There are things about you that are impossible to overlook.
Your smile. Your resilience. Your determination. And most of all, your heart.
You have a way of getting back up and continuing forward, even when life throws more at you than anyone should have to handle. That determination is part of you. So is the heart behind it.
Those are the things worth holding onto.
Life hasn’t always been easy. You’ve been through things that could have broken you, and there have been times when the road got pretty damn rough. But none of that changes the person underneath it all.
What matters is what you do from here. You don’t have to have everything figured out. You don’t have to have all the answers. You just have to keep moving toward the life you want.
Be excited about the life you haven’t lived yet.
There’s a lot of life out there waiting for you. New places, new experiences, new memories, and people who will come into your life and become important to you.
You deserve people around you who genuinely care about you. Someone who makes you laugh, challenges you, calls you on your bullshit, and still has your back when things get difficult. Someone who sees the real you—the good, the complicated, the ridiculous—and chooses to be there anyway.
Someone to share the stupid little moments with, take off somewhere just because you can, make memories with, and eventually fall asleep next to at the end of the night, with nowhere else you’d rather be.
When you find those people, hold onto the ones who make life better just by being in it. The ones you can be completely yourself around. The ones who can make you laugh when you need it, call you on your bullshit when you need that, and still be there when things aren’t easy.
Just keep making choices that move you closer to the person you want to be and the life you want to live.
Find your way. Find your footing. Get steady in life and love.
I believe in you.
And John, this is dedicated to you.
You may never realize how much one person can inspire an idea, but you did. Your struggles, your strength, your setbacks, your determination, and the person you are still becoming all helped inspire Get Steady.
This site—and the future app I hope it becomes—is being created to help people struggling with addiction find their footing, keep moving forward, and build a life they genuinely want to live.
If Get Steady ever helps even one person find their way back to themselves, a part of that will always belong to you.
Because this started with you.
Get steady in life and love.