Beyond the dark clouds that brought forth a reign of darkness in my soul, I found peace in the company of friends.
It was definitely a long road to discovering relationships with other people, but I finally had friends. Tony, Dave and Josh, they were my friends. The road to forgiveness, freedom and trust in other people was a turbulent one, but the therapist wasn't ready to give up on me.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn't giving up on myself.
I had to give up on thoughts, memories and ideas like 'a lost cause', 'crazy', 'psychotic', 'hating people', 'solitude' and 'sadness'.
I was introduced to smiling, caring and the gift of complimenting people, all things which were foreign to me. It may have taken weeks to teach my face muscles to smile in a way that wasn't characteristic of a serial killer.
I also had to learn to be motivated, and take joy in the little things that make life so worthwhile, like having a football club and talking to girls.
And when my efforts were below the bar, people were there to support me.
It felt nice. To care and be cared for, and to see people as what they were, instead of tools to achieve a selfish goal.
My musical preferences were also transformed radically. I started craving Imagine Dragons and Afrobeats a lot.
In my long journey as a lone wolf, I never knew how good it felt to belong in a pack, to need people and be needed by them.
It was rebirth for me, and beyond the stone fence I built around myself, I found peace.
Thanks @Telesfor