I Chose Me

By John Marcus Brown

Join John Marcus Brown as he takes you on a captivating journey of self-discovery in his heartfelt memoir. As a writer who has left his mark in the creative world, he invites you to step into his shoes and explore the path that has led him to where he is today.

 

In this engaging narrative, Brown shares the highs and lows of his life as a writer, offering a candid look at the challenges he's faced and the triumphs he's celebrated. Through his honest storytelling, he reveals how moments of adversity have fueled his creativity and spurred him on to reinvent himself time and time again.

 

As you delve deeper into his story, you'll come to understand the importance of self-awareness and the power of embracing your own journey. From the early struggles that tested his resolve to the breakthroughs that defined his success in the 2020s, his journey serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit.

 

With each turn of the page, you'll be inspired to stay true to yourself and pursue your dreams with unwavering determination. Join him on this inspiring adventure and discover the profound impact of choosing yourself in a world full of possibilities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMB Productions
• Release date: Mar 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393060833

John Marcus Brown

John Marcus Brown is an advocate of self-development who leads by example. He uses every obstacle and challenge as an opportunity for personal growth. He acknowledges that great things can be accomplished when passion and purpose are unified. John is one who is always concerned with building positive relationships because he understands the heartaches negativity can bring. If someone needs uplifting, he pays it forward by lending a helping hand.

Book preview

Introduction

Throughout life, we are faced with many pressures from friends, family, jobs, and so on. However, the biggest obstacle we face is often within ourselves. Many problems we encounter are direct results of the decisions we’ve made in the past. We get so consumed in the things around us that we lose focus on the things within us.

The purpose of this project is to share the importance of taking care of oneself first. The world has become so advanced and fast-paced that no one has time for anything anymore. If it isn’t about a dollar, it holds no importance. People are so focused on the hustle that they don’t even realize the willful neglect of the hustler.

I’ve known a lot of people who were making a lot of money, yet they were drowning in debt. I’ve known people with high ranking positions with huge networks, yet they were miserable and broken. I’ve known several people with massive social media followings, yet they were lonely and depressed. These people I referenced had the appearance of status and success, but they were mentally and spiritually impoverished.

For this project, I’m giving people a more in-depth look on my journey to manhood as well as becoming an established author. This journey as a writer has challenged me in ways like none other. Writing has forced me to sit down and look at myself in the mirror. It’s easy to focus on the things that you love about yourself, but what about those things you’re ashamed of? Those things that worry you? Those things that you’ve swept under the rug?

I’m here to take you on that journey with me. These are the things I had to face on my walk to excellence. I was tired of running from myself and made the decision to look myself in the eyes to get to know the man behind the man. I made the decision to focus on what matters; I made the decision to control the one thing the universe gave me control over—me. So, come take a walk with me as I explain to you why I Chose Me.

Chapter 1

Reinvention of Mind

Iwanna first thank you for joining me on this walk. During our time together, I just want you to relax and learn about yourself through my words. This moment is important to me because you’ve chosen to spend your time with me. Your time is important because it’s the one thing we don’t know how much of we have. So, for you to be here listening to me means more than I can express. Before we go, get you some coffee, a glass of wine, some water, or whatever it is that you desire— it’s about you. Are you ready?

Life has been a learning experience ever since I decided to reprioritize my thoughts and actions. I say this because of the profoundness of our words and actions. As a child, I never considered the importance of my thoughts and my words. I just went through life doing the things that I was taught to do—living by the rules of others. Not once did I consider the benefits of living for myself and paving my own way. I was always looking for people to tell me to do this or do that instead of asking myself, "What do I want?"

The answer to that question was quite simple—I wanted happiness. But with that answer came a problem—I didn’t know what happiness was. I knew what society’s definition of happiness was, but I didn’t know how to define it for myself. People often look to others to be their source of happiness—this friendship, that relationship, this person, that lover, this object, that activity—they look to everything except themselves.

Under this notion, I was convinced that I was happy because I had supportive people in my life—a beautiful family who loves me, friends that I have fun with, social groups that accept me. Don’t get me wrong, these things are great in their own right, but it was still a conditioned belief of happiness. Why do I say that? What if all of those things that brought me happiness were taken away? Would I still be happy? Or would I be miserable and fall into depression? If something can be taken away from you, was it yours to begin with?

It’s important to be mindful of things in which you attach labels to. People are quick to stake claim to things like, "This is mine. That’s my girl. That’s my spot..." You get the picture. With these labels comes a sense of ownership. And with that ownership comes a sense of territorial possession—entitlement. Then, before we realize it, we become emotionally attached and involved with these labels. In other words, we become slaves to these labels.

The reason we’re diving into this topic first is because of a conversation I had with a guy some time ago. We were having a discussion about some life topics, and the topic of his girlfriend came up. I’m always open to enlightening conversations, so I gave him the floor. He started explaining some of the details of their relationship as well as some issues that they were having. Overall, I could tell that there was infatuation coupled with delusion the way he spoke of her.

He expressed some concerns he had about her (things she’s said and done before), but he still made excuses and chose to turn