Hi. I’m Johnathan.

Hitting rock bottom—and hitting it hard—was the worst thing that ever happened to me. It was also the best thing that ever happened to me. Standing there fresh out on parole, with everything I’d built reduced to consequences and court dates, I took a hard look at the deepest pit I’d ever known—the one I had dug myself into. I remember thinking, “Schist!” But it wasn’t schist at all. It was limestone—solid, layered, ancient, and still standing long after everything else had fallen away.

​

That moment didn’t end my story. It started it.

​

Parole didn’t hand me freedom—it handed me responsibility. A chance to rebuild from the ground up, knowing there would be no shortcuts this time. With boots back on real soil instead of concrete floors, I began paying attention to the ground beneath my feet and the science that explains it. Geology gave language to what I’d lived through: pressure, fracture, fault lines, and time. The Earth doesn’t erase its damage—it records it, reshapes it, and turns stress into structure.

​

Now, as I begin my academic studies and field work toward becoming a geologist, I’m learning that rebuilding a life isn’t all that different from reading the rocks. Progress comes layer by layer. Strength is earned, not given. And the best views don’t come from avoiding the climb—they come from surviving it. This journey isn’t about redemption already won or success already claimed. It’s about forward motion, honest work, and building something solid where nothing stood before.