Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost, Chapter 7 of Shot At Love, A Celebrity Photographer's Unfiltered Lens on Dating and Finding Love. A breakup can make even bright rooms feel dim, and mine turned everything gray—right down to the paint on my walls. I gave 50 shades of gray new meaning. I tried to muscle through with grit and lonely heart playlists, but it took an unexpected intervention from Red Sox legend Tim Wakefield to cut through the noise. Tim’s straight talk about self-respect, resilience, and moving on landed like a perfectly thrown knuckleball: unpredictable, undeniable, and exactly what I needed to hear. The over-under was that this was a very loud wake-up call from Wake, and I had to find self-love at bat. From there, the path bent toward a different kind of ballgame—one of mantras, lineage, and sacred sound. I share how a puja led by a guru's wife reopened the door to Sanskrit practice, and how a medium delivered a message I couldn’t ignore: aham prema doesn’t just invite romantic love; it insists on self-love first. That reminder connected me back to my teacher, Namadeva, and to a daily practice of the —Gayatri before the mic, breath before reaction, compassion before compromise—that steadied the ground beneath my feet. Daily practice of chanting and the discipline of rebuilding standards after heartbreak. Along the way, we honor two legacies that shaped this story—Tim Wakefield’s generosity and caring, and Namadeva’s mastery of mantras—whose dates now echo in my calendar like a quiet blessing. If you’ve ever felt stuck between surrender and survival, this chapter offers tools and testimony: boundaries that hold, mantras that heal, and a practical path to liking yourself enough to choose better. Listen, reflect, and if it resonates, share it with someone who could use a sign. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell me: what’s the one line you needed to hear today? If you want to find out more about the Shot At Love movement and community, join the mailing list to learn about upcoming Shot At Love Live events at www.shotatlovebook.com Send us a text