I Took A Life at 15 and Discovered the Power of Radical Forgiveness and Accountability: JJ ‘88

This episode of What’s Underneath: Masculinity with Man Enough is sponsored by BetterHelp, the online, accessible therapy site. Visit http://BetterHelp.com/WhatsUnderneath today to get 10% off your first month.

At the age of 15, JJ ‘88 found a sense of belonging in gang life, mistook its reverence for violence as a badge of glory, and committed murder. He was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison but it wasn’t until much later that he began to understand how the toxic masculine values ingrained in his childhood had failed him. After many dark years, saturated with profound feelings of unworthiness, ‘88 found true accountability by releasing shame, restoring self-love and facing the irreversible truth of what he had done with radical self-forgiveness. Having traded in his hard exterior for his authentic soft one, ‘88 now enters every room with the awareness that he can never fully repay the debt of his past. However, he honors it by sharing his story, aiming to contribute to the betterment of others and even of himself.

Catch new episodes of What’s Underneath: Masculinity every Thursday on    / stylelikeu  

Exclusive 1-hour audio-only episodes every Thursday on Manenough.com/Podcast

Catch our series Trailer here:    • Men Open Up Like Never Before in What...  

Watch more What's Underneath episodes:    • The What's Underneath Project | Style...  

FOLLOW STYLELIKEU:
Instagram:   / stylelikeu  
TikTok:   / stylelikeu  
Facebook:   / stylelikeu  

FOLLOW MAN ENOUGH:
Instagram:   / wearemanenough  
TikTok:   / wearemanenough  
Facebook:   / wearemanenough  

FOLLOW JJ ‘88
instagram.com/jj_eightyeight
  / jj_eightyeight  

Stream JJ'88's Music and Videos:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jj88/

For updates on JJ'88's unreleased film Songs From The Hole (coming soon) follow:
  / songsfromthehole  

Directors: Lily Mandelbaum & Elisa Goodkind
Man Enough Executive Producers: Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz and Tarah Malhotra-Feinberg
Man Enough Content Producer: Mériem Dehbi-Talbot
StyleLikeU Producer: Melissa Bindi
Editor: Adaeze Elechi
Director of Photography: Carli Rabon
Camera Op: Reagan Frazier
Sound Mixer: Jennifer Zhang
Casting: Celeste Ollivier
PA: Mya Constantino
Intern: Mei Han Neumann

00:00 Accountability & Owning the Truth
00:45 Finding Self Expression & Style Post-Incarceration
3:25 Assumptions Based on Past Wrongdoings
4:30 Raised in Gang Culture and Commited Murder
6:30 Confronting the Consequences
12:06 Suicidal Thoughts and Shame
14:20 Transformation: Shame is not Accountability
17:45 Release from Prison and Reintegration
19:37 Meeting Wife in Prison
20:09 When I Feel the Most Beautiful
21:30 Owning the Past and Redefining Masculinity
22:28 Wildest Dreams and Aspirations
23:14 What It Means To Be Man Enough

#masculinity #manenough #stylelikeu #accountability