I think sometimes when it comes to sports, and especially relationships between players and coaches, that people lose track, lose a sense of reality.
When you make that crossover from life to real life, when you're not treated as a child anymore but as a man, and you are no longer given the benefit of the doubt, it takes some courage to face that.
And I think if you look at any relationship, for the relationship to be productive and to move forward and to grow, sometimes things have to be said that one person or the other person is not going to like to hear.
I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy. In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but I hated to be in meetings, hated to talk to the media, hated to have cameras in my face, hated to sign autographs. I hated to do all those things.
There's more to life than success, and if you can try to be more well-rounded, you'll be able to enjoy your success more. It won't own you or control you.
I had this notion that everyone was staring at me and judging everything about me, from my appearance to the way I talk and everything.
I definitely have come out of my shell a lot more. When you question who you are, you can't be proud of who you are. Now that I'm trying to peel off those layers and really understand who I am, I don't have anything to be shy about.
I don't care what people think about me because I know I am more than all the pain and strife they hold inside.
Growing up with two sisters, you either play by yourself or play Barbie with them. I played by myself.
It's something that I had been pushing down my whole life. The search for meaning, I guess, the whispering of the soul.
I want to thank all my fans, teammates, coaches and supporters for the strength they've given me to overcome so much.