Why I Walked Away—from the Corporate World, the Military, and Everything That Wasn’t Me

How Faith, Books, and Courage Led Me to My True Calling

I spent years building a life that looked successful on paper—serving in the military, working in the corporate world, following the rules, doing what was expected.

But deep inside, I knew something wasn’t right.

The structure, the predictability—it looked stable, but it wasn’t for me. I could feel myself shrinking. My heart wasn’t in it. My spirit longed for something more real. Something more aligned. So I left.

It took more courage than I knew I had to walk away from the only systems I had ever known. In the military, everything was done for you. Meals, laundry, your schedule—it was all mapped out. In corporate life, it was status and success—but at the cost of your soul.

When I walked away, I walked toward the unknown. But I wasn’t walking alone.

My mother planted the love of God in me from the time I was a child. That faith carried me. On the hard days, I turned to books, to gospel music, to affirmations like armor. I would speak over myself:

“No one can take my joy.”

“Everything is working out for me.”

Even when it didn’t look like it yet.

Books became my mentors. Music became my medicine. The road became my release. And all of it—every choice to trust, to leave, to believe—led me here.

 

Leaving behind a “secure” life wasn’t easy, but it was sacred. It was the path that gave birth to Legends of Hope—a place rooted in healing, nature, and truth. A brand created not from comfort, but from courage.