From wishing and dreaming I could marry her, to dating her, to asking her hand in marriage... to now 4 years into marriage... it is days like today that remind me how special life really is.

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, my wedding anniversary.

If you are reading this, I want to encourage YOU to write your own love story.

And not just with someone else...

Your love story starts with yourself.

The picture above, on the left hand side, in that photo, I was not even dating Erin yet.

She didn't even know I took that photo.

And she sure as heck didn't know that I wrote those words.

At the time I struggled to gain the confidence to ask her on a date, let alone ask her to marry me lol.

What people don't know, is that in that photo, was a version of ME that finally loved myself.

A version of me that started on the path towards creating the man I wanted to be.

And for the first time since I had known Erin, I think she could sense it.

Because I had a love for myself, I could spread an infectious energy to all of those around me.

I finally felt confident in who I was, who I wanted to be, and where I was going in life.

And this confidence helped me finally confess how I truly felt about her, and that I would stop at nothing to show her.

.

.

.

3 weeks after the photo on the left was taken, I drove 12 hours from Nashville Tennessee -> Houston Texas to ask Erin to be my girlfriend.

Why was this risky?

Because she didn't give me a clue to how she was going to respond to my bold move.

The reality?

I knew deep in my heart that I had to make the drive, and that regardless of what happened, I would at least know that I gave my absolute best effort that I could to show who I was, and what I was willing to do to have her in my life.

I was able to have this mentality because of the confidence I finally had within myself.

And this is the type of confidence I want you to have for yourself!

You must know and love thyself first, before you can fully love another.

^^^

And after 4 years of marriage, this is still one of the biggest lessons I have learned. Everyday both Erin and I work on ourselves so that we can bring our best selves into our relationship together.

Happy 4 years Erin. I love you.

#thriveon

CJ

p.s. I am grateful for everything and everyone in my life. Today is a special day where I will be daydreaming over all the fond memories I have.