Why I Wouldn’t Trade My Prison Experience for a Billion Dollars

The question I hear most often is about the ten years I “lost” in prison. People see it as wasted time, but that’s a negative way of looking at life. Before I was sentenced to 27 years in a maximum-security penitentiary, I made a decision: one way or another, I would get out and I would get out better than I went in. Prison gave me something rare: time, without all the noise and distractions modern society forces us to consume. It was me, and the silence of a solitary cell.

Learning in Solitude

The first challenge I took on was teaching myself a foreign language, armed only with a dictionary. My motivation came from a bizarre rumor: corrupt cops and the media claimed I had four diamonds hidden under my skin, based on an X-ray exam. Overnight, I was seen as a jackpot.

Hunger as a Teacher

The second factor that shaped me was hunger. Prison food was poor and scarce, so I began living on what the world now calls intermittent fasting. Hunger sharpened my mind and stripped life to its essence. Our brains work differently when they’re not satisfied.

Books and Bodyweight

I treated prison as an opportunity, not a punishment. I devoured books relentlessly, never skipping my three daily bodyweight workouts. If I could learn to read, I could learn anything in 24 hours that was my mindset.

And it was true: the human mind can do extraordinary things when it’s fully focused. It can build or it can destroy. I used it for both.

Understanding Evil and Good

But the relentless cruelty I witnessed inside those walls forced me to confront the meaning of evil and of goodness. I realized we use the same energy for both. The choice is ours.

If someone offered me a billion dollars to erase my experience, I wouldn’t take it. And if I could change anything? I’d ask for it to be even harder. Because today I have the tools to endure and resolve anything. Patience is the key virtue, and humility allows us to absorb any lesson life throws in our path.

The Real Victory

The hardships of life should be valued far more than the trophies we collect. True happiness is not about seeking happiness, it’s about living through whatever destiny hands us.

Everything is perfect as it is. Survival itself is victory.

So when you feel overwhelmed, come back to these words. Remember:The game is not over.You are still in the fight.Make the next moments count.