Life Is Not an Accident (23 page)

F
irst and foremost, giving thanks to my source is my priority. Without my faith in God, I would've never been strong enough to battle through all the years of pain and share my story with you today.

When I first decided to try to write this book three years ago, a lot of people turned me down, stating that it made no sense for me to write a memoir at the age of 31. They all said, “You should wait until you are a lot older,” to which I adamantly disagreed. If there was anything my journey had taught me, it was that nothing in this life is guaranteed. Every day is a gift and a blessing. Thank you to HarperCollins and David Hirshey for believing in me on this project and having the patience to stick with me through this three-year process.

Everyone in this life has experienced some kind of emotional pain. We all have had an “accident” in some form or fashion.
Whether that be a motorcycle crash, the loss of a loved one, a divorce, family issues, losing your job, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and so on. It's how you deal with that adversity that will determine who you will become.

God grant me the serenity to accept

the things I cannot change, the courage

to change the things I can and the wisdom

to know the difference.

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I owe a huge thank-you to the people who have forced me to confront my wrongs. Thank you to Coach K, who taught me how to be a fighter and live my life with principle each and every day. You still serve as a moral compass in my life, and for that I will be forever grateful. Thank you to Charles Grantham, who still inspires me each day to be smarter and better myself intellectually. Much gratitude to Noelle, whose journey was a tumultuous experience, but we still remain friends to this day. Thank you to Carl Liebert, who served a significant role in my life during my time of being lost and in pain. You, Amy, Seth, Jacob, and Samuel mean the world to me. A momentous thank you to my agent, Evan Dick, who pushed me to make this book exactly what it should have been in the first place. Your relentless ambition and commitment to our work has bonded us as brothers for life my friend. Thank you to RR and JN, for all of their thoughtful help in the process of selection and editing. Thanks to Charissa, who has read over the book multiple times and has always been patient with me as I exposed my true self to her step-by-step. And most important, to my mother and my father, who have always been the light in my
life and continue to be. Each day they fought for me and sacrificed in order to help me achieve my dreams. Thank you for believing in me when no one else did, and always keeping me focused on the prize that is living this life openly and honestly while being happy.

And last but not least, I beg forgiveness to all of those who have been with me over the course of the years and whose names I have failed to mention. I owe the biggest gratitude to those relationships, both good and bad, because they have all led me to become the person I am today.

I leave you with this:

The past should be left in the past or it can steal your future. Live life for what today can bring and not what yesterday has taken away.

JAY WILLIAMS
is a former professional basketball player and current ESPN analyst. While at Duke, he won the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, was named the AP Player of the Year in 2002, and was a unanimous first-team All-American. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls as the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. He is a motivational speaker, president of the JW Group, managing partner of the Leverage Agency, and a committed member of a number of charities.

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