During the peak of my DJ career, back in the year 2000, I was banned from entering the US after being caught entering to work as a DJ without having the required paperwork (Longtime followers of mine are very familiar with this story, and I wrote about it extensively in my memoir). I spent many years regretting my actions that led to that. This ultimately led to my eventual retirement from DJing since most of the opportunities were in the US. I moved on with my life, and it took me eighteen years to get over the regret, finally.
My wife is from California and I have in-laws there I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ve missed out on taking my kids to Disney World, of attending events like pinball expos that many of my friends attended, or personal development retreats in recent years.
I accepted that I’d simply never go back. There’s a whole rest of the planet for me to visit.
However, a few years ago I began to wonder about something: After more than 20 years, was the US government still keeping me out or was it my fear?
If it was them, I can live with that, but if it was my fear, then I owed it to myself to move past it and answer that question.
Because I had no idea what my status was any more, the only thing I could think of to do was simply to try to enter again. To say I faced my fears would be underselling it. I sat in terror. I share this story in vivid detail here.
I didn’t let my terror stop me, and felt great that I now had the proof that it WAS them preventing me from entering, and no longer my fear. Learning that was a great accomplishment.
I also got some helpful new information from that attempt, that I could take to a lawyer, about my current status.
Because this was such an old and painful story for me, I figured I needed “the best” legal counsel. I needed someone to make my pain better. Some Frolic 100 members even had referrals for me (thank you!), and yet… something was still very difficult. Calls weren’t returned. I knew that the help I needed had to feel easeful, and chasing after someone didn’t. I let those leads go.
And finally I remembered that I literally drive by a law office every day, bringing my kids to school, that had a sign out front for US entry waivers. The solution this whole time was under my nose, I just had to notice it.
I called them up, and someone took my intake call immediately. I paid a retainer, and I began the paperwork right away. Because they were nearby, I hand-delivered my paperwork, which felt much more easeful
And then last year I had the final test: I had to go to the border in person to submit my completed application, and have my finger prints and photos taken by US customs for their final check. This was terrifying as well, to return to the scene of the crime. Another sleepless night, a white knuckle drive to the border, and a final walk of transformation across the Rainbow Bridge through the one-way doors to the US. After they released me, it was “hurry up and wait” time.
That was 11 months ago. And last week I received this:
This 24 year old story is finally over. I can enter the US.
It started with facing my fear and asking myself this question: Is it them, or is it me? And I knew I would not stop until I had removed the “me” from the equation.
My next chapter, my greatest one, awaits.
What from my story can you take to help you uncover your next, greatest, chapter?
This story is featured in my upcoming book “Happy2bInspired: From DJ Booths to Global Impact, Your Blueprint for Reinvention”.
