0:01

You're listening to I Choose Me with

0:04

Jenny Garth. Welcome,

0:09

my friend. I'm so happy you

0:11

decided to hang out with me today. I

0:14

cannot wait to start talking

0:16

about choices with you and

0:18

how our choices determine our

0:21

paths moving forward in life.

0:23

I have so much in store for you. I

0:26

promised you that I would share some stories

0:29

from my life, and that is what I'm going to do

0:31

today. I want to tell

0:33

you about the time I decided

0:35

to let love in again. But

0:38

hold on, let's do that thing. Let's

0:40

go back in order to go

0:42

forward.

0:44

Okay.

0:45

In twenty twelve, I went through

0:47

a very public and painful

0:50

divorce. I spent

0:52

the next couple of years grieving and

0:56

ventually healing. When

0:59

I find resurfaced into

1:01

the world, back into society,

1:04

people started encouraging

1:06

me to get back out there start

1:09

dating again. That thought honestly

1:12

made me feel sick. But

1:14

when the time felt right, I

1:17

started dipping my toe into that pool.

1:20

And let me tell you, my dating pool was

1:23

pretty shallow. It

1:25

was basically set ups,

1:27

friends of friends kind of thing. I

1:30

had no idea what I was doing,

1:33

what I was hoping to find, who I would

1:35

find. It

1:37

was pretty brutal. I

1:40

was awkward and

1:42

needy, not a very attractive

1:45

combo. When

1:47

I look back now, I

1:49

see a very lost

1:51

lady just trying to feel

1:54

loved again. I

1:56

was putting way too much importance and focus

1:58

on getting a man to love me again. It

2:01

was like I was throwing

2:03

spaghetti against the wall, just trying

2:06

to figure out what would stick. Some

2:09

of my choices were odd to others,

2:11

odd to even me, and in

2:14

my confused and sort

2:16

of weakened state of self understanding,

2:19

I saw myself attaching

2:21

my worth to these guys

2:24

who had no idea who I really was and

2:28

who were just not right. Yet

2:31

I tried so hard

2:34

to make each one of them love me. I

2:36

so wanted to succeed in a relationship,

2:41

and who knows, maybe maybe

2:43

I was trying so hard because

2:46

I wanted to show my ex what he had lost,

2:48

what a mistake he had made. Whatever

2:51

it was, it wasn't working. I

2:53

decided to take a break from searching

2:55

for that kind of love altogether and

2:58

just focus on my girls and my job. I

3:01

was doing a sitcom at the time called

3:04

Mystery Girls. I was also building a

3:06

house, a home for my

3:08

new family, which was just

3:11

me and the girls and our

3:13

dogs, and I gotta

3:15

be honest. I like that vibe a lot

3:17

more than dating. It

3:20

was really turning into a good time

3:23

in my life. I was finding

3:25

my self worth again, and

3:27

I was feeling confident and capable

3:30

of being out there on my own. I

3:33

was reinventing my life.

3:36

I was doing a lot of work on myself, and

3:39

I started to think ahead. My

3:42

therapist, Wade High. Wade

3:45

encouraged me to make a list

3:47

of my non negotiables.

3:50

The things that I had learned were top

3:52

priorities in my next

3:54

relationship, and here are a few of

3:56

them. Number one a family man,

3:58

a man who puts family form first top

4:01

of the list. Number two

4:04

a man who keeps his word

4:07

honesty very important to me. Number

4:11

three someone who could make me laugh. I

4:14

really needed some laughter in my life.

4:17

Number four, someone who was confident

4:19

enough in who they were to let

4:22

me shine. Also a

4:24

man who never complained about how much luggage I packed

4:26

for a trip. And there were others,

4:28

but I don't remember what they are right

4:30

now. So that was my list, my

4:32

list of non negotiables. That's

4:34

what I did so I would know when

4:37

someone came along and checked the

4:39

boxes. But all the while I was

4:41

asking myself, do I even really

4:44

ever want a man in my life

4:46

again? Which,

4:48

as you know, as a middle aged

4:50

woman who's gone through a divorce, that's a

4:52

valid question to ask yourself. So

4:55

now it was the end of twenty fourteen,

4:57

and what they say is true. It

5:00

happens when you least expect

5:02

it, and it helped me tell the story.

5:05

I want to introduce you to the

5:07

man who loves to let

5:09

me shine. I

5:11

want you all to meet my hubs, Dave

5:14

Abrams, Hi, babe. I was

5:16

thinking we could talk about

5:19

how we met.

5:20

Oh yeah, I like that story.

5:22

I mean, you know, people like to know these stories.

5:24

Everybody loves a what's it

5:26

called a cute meat

5:28

meet. I don't

5:30

like cute me because

5:32

you know ours of ours was a blind

5:35

meet.

5:35

Cute. Do you remember the story?

5:38

Because I remember you get a lot

5:40

of You get a lot of flak for your memory.

5:43

I do, but I remember

5:45

the story.

5:46

Do you want to tell it? Yeah? How about

5:48

you? Sorry, we'll go with that, okay. So what was

5:50

what was your perspective on

5:52

a blind date?

5:53

I thought I was going to talk Oh my god,

5:55

okay, my friend who was

5:58

uh seeing a guy who

6:00

was younger than her. She had just

6:02

been divorced not that long ago, and now she

6:04

was seeing a younger man. I was like, oh, that's so cool.

6:07

When we started we chatted. She was a school

6:09

friend, yeah, school friend, a mommy friend of mine at

6:11

school, and I remember we were on our yearly

6:14

camp out at El Capitan, uh

6:17

huh, and she said

6:19

to me, would you be open

6:22

to meeting my boyfriends, one

6:24

of his best friends. And

6:26

I was like, I wasn't really

6:29

even like at the place of wanting

6:31

to meet anybody, but I was at the place in my

6:33

life after the divorce where I

6:35

had done a ton of work and I was finally

6:38

happy on my own. I felt really

6:41

strong, really confident.

6:43

And then she said that to me, and I was

6:45

like, okay, I'll practice. Let me

6:47

practice. I need to practice dating. So I went what

6:50

they set up a blind date basically with

6:52

us, and it was like a double date.

6:55

Do you remember when you googled me?

6:56

Oh that was yeah, that's true.

7:00

People do that. Yeah, everybody.

7:02

You're gonna go out with somebody and it's you know,

7:04

a blond day you google them.

7:05

Yeah, but you know there was at the

7:08

time. I don't know if I don't know, if Dave

7:10

Abrams the Chippendale dancer, if

7:12

you're out there, Dave, he's out there.

7:14

You got a nice physique.

7:16

Yeah, because when you google Dave vid or

7:18

Dave Abrams, Yeah, he

7:20

was coming up a Chipendale dancer.

7:23

Google's all it's all something else, it's all

7:25

Jenny and Dave. It's just Jenny and David.

7:27

Anyways. But I thought I was

7:29

going on a double date with a Chippendale dancer.

7:31

Yeah, little did you know?

7:34

No, I knew by the time I got to the restaurant,

7:36

I knew you were a Chipendale's dancer. But

7:39

I did walk in. I

7:41

did walk in, and immediately

7:44

what.

7:45

The bar was a crowded by the way, you were late

7:47

whatever. Do you know how many

7:49

minutes late? You were like, oh my god, you do yeah,

7:52

fifteen minutes late. We had to wait.

7:54

Are you sure it wasn't sixteen minutes, No, fifteen

7:56

okay.

7:56

For sure. And you were wearing all

7:58

black and you out of your hair

8:00

was cut at a bob and a bob. That's

8:03

cute. Looking

8:05

back, you ordered like.

8:06

Wait, I was talking, this is what

8:09

happened. I was saying.

8:11

When I walked into the thing, into the bar.

8:13

It was crowded, and immediately

8:16

my eyes went to a

8:18

tall man standing at the bar, like

8:21

your typical actor,

8:25

like LA guy that really

8:27

handsome.

8:29

I'd tee offense to that.

8:31

And immediately I said, oh

8:34

m hmm. And then they introduced

8:36

me to you, and you

8:39

were that guy.

8:41

Well, we sat down us four, and

8:44

we ordered some drinks. You said

8:47

nothing, and then they

8:50

proceeded to talk. I kind

8:52

of didn't say anything.

8:53

I didn't really feel social. I wasn't

8:55

in a social mood to begin with for some reason.

8:57

Yeah, and then it just it felt awkward.

9:00

I felt like I was being interviewed almost, and.

9:03

They were talking about nine oh two and oh, and

9:05

I was like, I, all, I

9:08

don't I don't know the show.

9:09

You never watched it.

9:10

No, I didn't know. I

9:12

mean my sister did. But I mean

9:14

I knew. I mean obviously

9:16

I knew of you. I googled you. You

9:18

Google. The first thing out of my

9:20

mouth when I was approached to go in the state was

9:24

oh, she's three kids.

9:26

All right, Well whatever, I'll go. Ah

9:29

and yeah.

9:30

Wait, you probably should have really thought that through a little

9:33

bit more.

9:33

I mean, yeah,

9:36

yeah, that's probably a thing I don't really

9:38

think. So

9:41

I went in there and yeah,

9:43

you didn't say a word and you

9:46

ordered pasta and

9:48

salt.

9:49

It was a very foodie restaurant, and you know I don't

9:51

like food.

9:52

Looking back, yeah, I was like, oh, do you

9:54

want to try this? This this place is

9:56

really good fish pasta. Yeah.

10:00

No, I'm.

10:03

Like anyways, looking back, it makes complete

10:07

a get it. And then we

10:10

left the restaurant. They

10:12

were leaving and you're

10:15

we were going to valet. You gave the

10:17

ticket. Your car got pulled up right in front

10:20

of mine. I was saying, I walked

10:22

over to you and I was like, after what did we

10:24

say? Like three sentences of each other. I was like,

10:27

well, it was really nice meeting you.

10:30

Can I call you sometime. It's kind

10:32

of like a like you were going to be like, no, see

10:34

you and you're like no, but you can

10:37

follow me, And I was like, I

10:39

first thought was oh on Instagram.

10:43

No. She was like, no, dummy, follow me

10:45

in your car. So we were

10:47

on the yeah, and then you

10:49

like like a like a bat

10:51

out of hell.

10:53

I wanted to get out of there.

10:54

And I don't drive fast, and I

10:57

like, I've been accused of driving like an old man,

10:59

I do the speed limit. My motto

11:01

is I don't. I ain't got nowhere to be. That's gonna

11:03

kill me. Okay, and you

11:06

flew and we were in

11:08

silver Lake.

11:09

I needed to I did that

11:11

intentionally. I drove like that intentionally,

11:13

and I spoke to you like that intentionally because

11:16

I needed to know if

11:19

you were on the same level as me, like,

11:21

hmmm, a little crazy, spontaneous,

11:24

a little a little wild.

11:27

Okay, well, yeah, I guess I was.

11:29

You were. I'm not like that though I

11:33

probably would have went over and went to bed, but

11:36

I followed you. We went to this little

11:38

place called Cafe.

11:39

Stella, had a little

11:41

drink at the bar.

11:43

We got to know each other, and you.

11:45

Started to make me laugh. Yeah,

11:47

almost instantly, and I was like, hey, he's

11:50

not just a pretty face. He's actually funny

11:53

and fun to hang out with. I like this guy, and

11:55

you were hot, which started

11:58

just like change my mind.

12:00

Well thank you for that. Yeah,

12:03

yeah, yeah, And I thought you were

12:06

like fun and beautiful

12:09

and refreshing and

12:11

to the point, not a lot

12:14

of bullshit. When

12:16

we left Cafe Cella, I walked you out to the valet.

12:20

And was that our first

12:22

kid?

12:23

That's it.

12:24

I don't remember it. How was it?

12:26

It was good? I got tingles, yeah,

12:30

and then we said goodbye. I

12:33

lived kind of closed. You lived in Studio

12:35

City, so you lived a little bit further away. I

12:37

got home right but right when I pulled

12:40

into my driveway, I

12:42

remember getting a text and you said,

12:44

you want one more drink.

12:46

I was like, okay, what time

12:48

is it now?

12:49

Oh god? That was well. That place was

12:51

closing, Cafe's eleven. It was

12:53

like a Tuesday night.

12:55

We are wild.

12:56

Tuesday night, eleven o'clock. You

12:58

text you want one more drink a baye

13:00

bar, and you sent me this address.

13:02

And I was like, I lived in Studio City. I

13:05

don't know the bay bar. What

13:07

bar is this?

13:10

I can't believe you're telling this story.

13:12

Yeah, And so I drove over

13:15

there and I was like, I don't know this bar.

13:17

I'm going up a hill. It's all residential,

13:20

residential canyon. And I get to a

13:22

gate and I text

13:24

you I'm here, and the gate

13:27

just opens. I pull

13:29

in. There's no no, the

13:31

lights are kind of off, there's no one. I

13:33

don't know if you're in there. And

13:36

I walked to the front door. It's it's a beautiful,

13:39

beautiful house. But I'm thinking to myself, what

13:42

the absolute hell am

13:44

I doing? What what am I doing?

13:49

And then we had a we had a nice evening.

13:51

We chatted, you came to the bay bar, came to

13:53

the bar at a bar then, Yeah,

13:55

and we named it the Babe bar because it was

13:57

all girls at my house at the time and

14:00

there's.

14:00

The big bar. When we sat and we chatted

14:03

and yeah, that was

14:05

that was it. Came

14:09

to see the next day at work, it was

14:11

mosy on up at the bar.

14:13

I mean instantly it was we were

14:15

on that was.

14:15

It over done?

14:18

Didn't look back, Nope, didn't

14:20

listen to anybody.

14:22

No, m did

14:30

we have anybody? There was anybody

14:32

like objecting on your side when

14:34

we were first together.

14:36

Well, what if I tell you that now? Are

14:38

you going to be mad at them?

14:40

No? Not at all? No, Wait,

14:42

who I remember? I remember

14:44

Luca, But Luca

14:47

was also seventeen, about

14:49

to be eighteen.

14:50

I mean that's a pretty significant opposer.

14:53

Yeah, our oldest daughter.

14:55

Yeah, I mean senior in high school. There's

14:57

a lot going on. And then we kind of threw

14:59

that on her. Yeah.

15:00

Oh, by the way, we're getting married after

15:02

being together for three months.

15:03

Yeah, after your graduation in July.

15:06

Wait you graduate June. Oh yeah,

15:09

then we're gonna have a wedding. Wait

15:11

who who? Who?

15:13

I'm trying to think. I don't think that mister

15:15

Showbiz objected, or at least

15:17

if he did, or if there was any

15:19

conversation about it, he never told me. I

15:22

would love to ask him now, like, was

15:25

there something you wanted to

15:27

tell me but you never did?

15:28

Oh, I'm for sure it was in the back of

15:30

his head.

15:31

What about you did your my mom never

15:33

said because she really liked you and

15:36

she loved what you brought to our

15:38

family.

15:38

M hmm. Kind of the same background, you

15:41

know, kind of were raised in the same

15:43

like old fashion. Your mom's very old fashioned

15:45

Midwest. Uh, and so was

15:47

your dad.

15:48

Okay, so mister Shobbs didn't object. My

15:51

mom didn't object. No, Adele didn't

15:53

object. She met you, she vetted

15:55

you.

15:56

Yeah, well I met Adele, like

15:58

what was it this second or

16:01

second week we were

16:03

together?

16:04

Yeah, and she loved you. I met your

16:06

friends mm hmm.

16:08

Yeah, and I when my the friend

16:10

who introduced us already knew

16:12

you, sort of like acquaintances,

16:16

and then all my other friends were

16:18

yeah. On board. I

16:21

mean, they all thought I was nuts.

16:23

Looking back, do you think you were nuts

16:25

for making that decision? Mmm?

16:31

I mean, looking back, yeah, I feel like it was

16:33

a nutty decision. But I wouldn't have done

16:35

anything different. I don't really. I

16:38

think I don't really have a plan.

16:40

I mean we joked sometimes and say,

16:42

probably should have thought that through a little better.

16:45

Yeah.

16:46

Yeah, even if we had thought it

16:48

through, even if you had more time to

16:50

think it through, you were You're

16:52

saying you would still make the same Yeah.

16:54

I would have made the same decision absolutely,

16:57

What about you?

16:58

I would have made the same decision too, only

17:01

because I am crazy

17:04

and I love adventure and

17:06

I'm you know what I mean, Like this

17:08

just seemed.

17:09

Well in the beginning, it's always you

17:11

know, fun stuff. And then you

17:14

had jobs, and we went on some trips,

17:16

like we went to Arizona and

17:18

then we went to Cabo and

17:22

then we went all over the place. So yeah

17:25

that eventually the trips fizzle out and.

17:28

Life gets real.

17:29

Yeah.

17:30

I remember thinking, like, once

17:33

the glitter wears off of

17:36

this new relationship and the excitement

17:38

of it all, what's

17:40

going to happen? Yeah,

17:43

And we were faced with that reality

17:45

very early, like literally

17:47

like a month after we got married.

17:50

Yeah, that was that

17:52

was crazy. Thrust here

17:54

you go into the real

17:56

world.

17:58

I mean, because your life it's

18:00

not I mean, our lives both changed. I would

18:02

say your life changed drastically.

18:05

Drastically. You went from a single.

18:07

Guy living in a one

18:09

bedroom apartment to moving

18:12

into a little bit of a nicer

18:14

house in Studio

18:16

City. Three

18:19

four dogs again at the time, three

18:22

step children, and then all of a sudden, I'm taking

18:25

you know, the girls to school and walking them

18:27

into class because this was you know, they

18:29

were still in the lower school,

18:32

was the lower in upper school,

18:34

and everybody would take the kids in in the

18:36

morning and you'd have stuff to do,

18:38

and we were like delegating between

18:41

like Peter had them one week and then we had them

18:43

the other week.

18:43

And you were so great though, you

18:45

just really jumped into everything

18:49

with both feet, like you dove

18:51

in.

18:52

Yeah, I mean it. And also it

18:54

was crazy and like being in that situation

18:57

all of a sudden, I'm at this like prominent

19:00

Los Angeles school with a

19:02

bunch of other celebrities walking

19:04

these kids in and then like.

19:06

Were you starstruck?

19:07

Uh? Yeah, you forget it.

19:09

I might have been because you before

19:11

me, you were the guy at the grocery store

19:13

who looked at like the National Inquirer and

19:15

US Weekly.

19:16

Yeah I love the check Yeah yeah, I

19:18

like.

19:18

You don't love that stuff. Yeah yeah,

19:22

I don't ever look at those but yeah.

19:23

That whole situation and then that school,

19:26

and and just like then the events

19:28

that the school would do, and then becoming

19:31

like you know, being around those other parents

19:34

that are are celebrities looking.

19:35

At was really intimidating

19:37

for you.

19:39

So what do you do again, Dave? Well,

19:42

I'm opening a restaurant bar oh

19:44

where Rampart,

19:48

which to anyone that knows it's not a

19:50

great area, they would

19:52

never go to Rampart in

19:55

East LA. But uh yeah,

19:58

oh yeah, I'm gonna come down check it out. I

20:00

don't think you should.

20:02

But you didn't move in right away, No.

20:06

We waited. I slept when the kids were home.

20:08

I slept in the guest room. That's so

20:10

cute. It feels like it

20:12

was like literally like

20:15

warp speed and went from

20:18

that to like stepdad.

20:20

Yeah, and looking

20:22

back, this is

20:24

something we can talk about in a future

20:26

episode because it's a pretty significant part

20:28

of our.

20:29

Well perfect I like waiting to

20:32

talk about things.

20:33

Well, you're gonna have to wait because this is a

20:34

bigger subject. But I

20:37

think because

20:39

we did fast track everything, there

20:42

was a lot of like learning

20:44

and growing on both our parts,

20:46

but mostly on your part. I mean

20:49

in like having a family like

20:51

that and being having all these responsibilities

20:54

put upon you and yeah,

20:56

and having to like model for the kids

20:59

a certain behavior, and

21:02

just you and I getting on the same page about parenting,

21:06

which.

21:06

That really wasn't that difficult, right,

21:08

That wasn't That wasn't but we did.

21:10

My point is we did reach

21:13

some obstacles that we couldn't

21:15

get passed or we thought we couldn't get past, but

21:18

it didn't. It took us a while, and

21:21

I think that you realized, Okay,

21:23

I'm swimming in the deep end and

21:25

I need a

21:28

life preserver.

21:29

Yeah. And then also if you if you take

21:31

a step back and look at bigger picture, you know, the kids

21:34

were involved, and that's that's the

21:36

main thing. And so then all

21:38

your crazy stuff that's

21:41

going on in your head that like it may seem overwhelming,

21:43

Well, you made this choice and

21:46

we have to like kind of figure this out. And we did.

21:48

We we're still going to therapy and

21:51

and doing a lot of like

21:53

work.

21:54

But it was it was, it

21:56

was we reached an impasse.

21:58

Yeah, we weren't doing we weren't doing the

22:00

right work. It was. It

22:02

was actually we were trying to get everybody else to

22:04

do it for us in a

22:07

weird way. Does that make sense to you at

22:09

all? No? Okay, Well we did

22:11

go to like three different therapists,

22:14

and you remember, Barbara.

22:16

We tried some things. We really did

22:19

try.

22:19

We gave it all we did, and

22:22

we reached.

22:22

It and passed it. We'll talk about that in another episode.

22:24

But because I

22:27

have some notes for that, I think it says

22:29

I didn't do anything wrong.

22:32

No, no, not at all. But I'm

22:34

really proud of us. I'm proud of

22:36

us for like finding

22:39

somebody Like when I found

22:41

you, I knew this is a good

22:43

man. This is

22:46

a person that I can see in my home,

22:48

I can see around my kids, and

22:51

I can see growing

22:55

into you know, who we're

22:57

going to be as a couple. I can see that with

22:59

them.

23:02

Yeah, you were very willing and like

23:05

you seem like you wanted it too.

23:07

I did. I did. But But does

23:09

this make sense without knowing it? You

23:12

know, just just really being in

23:14

love with you? Kind

23:16

of took over everything.

23:19

And then I said, well, if

23:21

that's there, then you know we

23:24

can do anything. There's obviously,

23:26

you know, more to that, because

23:29

they say, you know, love conquers all, it

23:31

actually does, but you

23:33

know it's not. You know, there's

23:36

there's that other there's

23:38

that other layer to it that you really

23:40

have to work on. But I

23:42

was just so in love with you. I was. I

23:44

was in love with the kids. I was, you

23:47

know, in love with an exciting life

23:50

that we can make, and

23:54

then you don't really think about all

23:56

the other stuff, A

24:00

lot of other stuff. Yep.

24:02

We threw caution to the winds, but.

24:05

It worked out. I mean, it's working out.

24:09

I wouldn't want it any other way.

24:11

So it's a choice we have to make every day.

24:13

We chose each other that first night.

24:15

Mm hmm.

24:17

That's pretty cool.

24:18

Thank you.

24:19

You said before that you didn't know if

24:21

mister Showbiz approved of you. Did

24:24

you know that he listens to every

24:26

recording of this podcast, so we can

24:28

ask him right now in real wa. Yeah,

24:31

Hey, mister I heard Days

24:33

say something before you started recording

24:35

where he mentioned me, and I thought, I

24:38

hope that.

24:38

That she doesn't say that.

24:40

I had a problem because I specifically

24:42

did not I had a problem with several other

24:45

guys.

24:46

Yeah no, I know, yes, I

24:48

know about that, but not this guy.

24:51

Absolutely not not this guy.

24:54

Not this guy.

24:55

I'm going to get a T shirt for you that says, not this

24:57

guy.

24:57

Not this guy.

25:06

Oh okay, it's

25:09

just me again. I'm

25:11

wondering what you guys

25:13

are thinking of me right now because that was pretty

25:15

bold. But you know what, I

25:18

honestly have no shame in that

25:20

game. I had been letting men

25:24

lead me around for long enough, letting

25:26

the man make the moves, make the decisions

25:29

on whether to move forward in the relationship

25:31

or not. And I was over that.

25:34

I was over being the passenger in that car.

25:37

And here's the key. I

25:39

had started loving my life

25:42

again, choosing what

25:44

I wanted. I was

25:46

choosing me for the very

25:49

first time in a long time.

25:52

And that is exactly when it happened. I

25:56

believe sometimes in life, when

25:58

you find something you really want, something

26:01

that feels right, you

26:03

just have to put it all on the line. You have to

26:06

go for it. And that is what I did. I

26:09

went for it because

26:11

at the end of the day, I

26:13

really did want what we all want,

26:16

love loyalty, companionship.

26:22

Would I make the same decision again, Yes, Yes,

26:24

I would, yep, yep, yep. It

26:27

hasn't always been easy, but I would absolutely

26:30

choose love again. Choosing

26:33

to love again after heartbreak

26:36

it's a profound act of courage,

26:39

and it is complicated. It's

26:41

about acknowledging the

26:44

pain of the past, but at

26:46

the same time refusing to let that

26:48

pain define our future. It

26:51

involves embracing vulnerability,

26:55

opening ourselves up to that possibility

26:58

of hurt all over again, and trusting

27:02

that we are worthy of love. One

27:05

of the biggest challenges is overcoming

27:09

that fear of getting hurt again,

27:12

because after experiencing heartbreak, it's

27:15

natural to build walls around

27:18

our hearts to protect ourselves. But

27:21

those walls can also prevent us

27:23

from fully experiencing

27:26

love and connection again.

27:29

And I know it is so hard to

27:32

let go of that past baggage

27:35

and those old stories and those

27:37

old insecurities. But

27:40

I want you to see that

27:42

each new relationship is an

27:44

opportunity. It's an

27:46

opportunity to reinvent yourself

27:48

and your life, just like I

27:50

did. It's a choice,

27:54

and it's a choice. I hope you find

27:56

the courage to invite into your life too.

28:00

I love you now. I want you to

28:02

go look in the mirror and tell yourself

28:04

that you love you too. I'll

28:06

be right here next week. I

28:08

hope you will