When I first learned about Adnan’s plight, I was surprised at the level of peace he found with the life he was forced to live in the place of the one he had planned.
Here was a man who had been stripped of all his opportunities, his family and his freedom. Despite this, he said he has found peace, made friends and created a life for himself in the chaos of prison walls. This inspired me; even though I wasn’t in jail, I knew all about prison. I was living in a prison made of my own fear.
Living in my own prison
I don’t know when my relationship became abusive; trying to pinpoint it is like trying to catch the instant dusk turns to dark. One moment you are losing light and before you know it, you can’t see in front of you. I went from being perfect to never doing anything right. I went from beautiful to bitch. I became scatter-brained, anxious apologetic and confused.
The more embarrassed I was, the more I withdrew until it took a Herculean effort to leave the house, to shower, to get out of the bed or off of the couch. I was alive, but just barely. I was physically free, but I still woke up feeling trapped. At the edge of sanity, I checked myself into a hospital. I went in suicidal. I came out apathetic. . . I didn’t care if I lived or died.
Looking for something more
Listlessly searching the net for something to catch my fleeting interest, I ran into this Slate article about a young Muslim boy who had been accused of murdering his high school girlfriend. Millions of downloads, MSNBC, Undisclosed, and a whole world later was to come, but right then it was me and my iPhone, listening to this tale spin out of a romance gone wrong, a group of faithful friends with a trunk of legal files, and a strange cast of characters.
As I listened to this young man’s story, some things fell into place for me. . . the main one being this: Even in our prisons, we do not have to stay inmates. Freedom is a state of mind. I’ll always be grateful to Adnan for that moment. . . without taking a step out of his prison, he freed me from mine.
It only takes one thought
That one thought empowered me to change my life . . . and what better way to honor the man who inspired me than to use my freedom to help inspire others, and to bring awareness to his story? Now you FINALLY know why Adnan Syed is spoken of on a blog about ADHD. I started this blog, healed my mind, and saved my life.
Ask yourself: what are you doing with your freedom today?
If you do not know Adnan Syed’s story, I encourage you to start with Serial to learn the story, Move to Undisclosed to get the hard facts and help #FreeAdnan
Until next time,
René
Hi Rene.
I was just lurking on your blog with your story about Adnan Syed.
I must agree with you about freedom. The first time I heard about Adnan was in 1999..the year when he was convicted of murder and a year after my nephew was born .I will get to him in a minute.
Forward to the 2000..I was shocked to hear about his dilemma.( I believe that the law was against him)and how much of his young life was snatched away.
When I think about Adnan, it makes me think about my 18 year old nephew. Though he’s a sweet kid,he also hang around the wrong people. Already, one of his friends has been jailed and a grand uncle who has been prison since the late 80s ( Unfortunately, he isn’t innocent)
My nephews problem is that everybody is his friend. He doesn’t know how to discern his friends from his foes. It would make me mad because his selfish thoughts. Here you have men like Adnan who may be innocent but has lost his teen and part of his adult life in prison and how other Black lives are being unjustly lost in prison and in graves. He’s been in juvenile once but only in the holding cell.
I use Adnan’ s story..along with countless MOC in telling him how he is taking his freedoms for granted. Adnan was already ” at risk” to get picked on.He was South Asian American and a Muslim.He was ” ripe” enough to be picked on by cops and by society.Now our racist society got what they wanted with him.
I tell my nephew this because this could be him. stuck in prison/jail like Adnan,his friend and his uncle and they’ll tell him its no fun being there.My nephew Just turned 18.I told him that he will no longer go to juvenile but to the official crossbar hotel.. or shall we say prison.
I pray to god that Adnan will be released from prison ASAP.I would love for his parents to see him before his..or their time is up. My uncle has been in prison since I was in high school. I’m almost in my mid 40s and I don’t know if I’ll ever see my uncle get out of prison.
Shauna,
Thank you so much for reading, and for sharing your story with me. I totally agree with your assessment of Adnan’s situation. I hope one day you get to see your Uncle walk free. ?