01 / REMEMBER WHEN...
YOU LOST
YOURSELF.
...you lost your sense of self?
...you were filled with doubt?
...you were filled with fear of abandonment?
...you had such low self-esteem and were such a pessimist?
...you tried to put the word "loser" on a collage about yourself?
...you wrote some of the worst things about yourself in those journals?
...you felt "askew"?
02 / REMEMBER WHEN...
YOU WAITED.
AND WAITED.
AND WAITED.
...you enjoyed watching the clock move?
...you eagerly awaited responses to text messages but none came?
...nobody sent you mail?
...the phone calls were only fifteen minutes?
...you were always waiting for the next thing: mail, text messages, meals, medications?
...you were constantly wondering about the outside world?
03 / REMEMBER WHEN...
THIS WAS
YOUR LIFE.
...you celebrated jail Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your birthday?
...you ate beans, chili, bologna, Fritos, peanut butter, and hotdogs exclusively?
...you were mixing disgusting food to make it taste better?
...everyone smelled bad?
...people passed gas and crop dusted?
...those girls cheated at Spades?
...there were mooches everywhere?
...people were incredibly rude for no reason?
...people were very self-centered and selfish?
...everyone around you gossiped and backstabbed?
...it was so loud you couldn't think?
04 / REMEMBER WHEN...
YOU WERE
NOT FREE.
...you were strip searched?
...you were treated unfairly by the guards?
...you were in gen pop and were in those 22-hour lockdowns?
...you slept on those "beds" and got incredibly bad back pain from them?
...you had people waking you up?
...you had to rely on others outside for everything: food, commissary, sciatica, phone?
...everyone found out your problems and your crimes?
...you missed out on the kids growing up?
05 / REMEMBER WHEN...
YOUR BRAIN
WAS NOT
OKAY.
...you got jailbrain and began to forget basic information?
...you had depressive and manic episodes in jail?
...you always had to listen to stories glorifying drugs and alcohol?
...you had to hear how great being homeless was?
...you wanted to "suffocate and kill" your hope?
...you missed people so much it hurt?
...you had perpetual loneliness?
...you were just simply hopeless?
SO...