At first, the silence was salvation. Then the music started.

In this haunting and deeply human continuation of his memoir, Chaz Holesworth leaves the wreckage of his Philadelphia childhood behind only to face a new kind of war: unraveling the aftermath of a world where faith meant fear, and obedience meant survival. As a teenager, he’s told that emotions are weakness and questions are sin. But when first love cracks open the cage, it ignites a longing that no sermon can silence. Amid passion, heartbreak, and the lingering echoes of trauma, Chaz is thrust into freefall. Movement becomes his only escape. Music becomes his only prayer. And with every mile, every lyric, he begins piecing together a voice he thought was lost forever.

For years, he followed every rule. Years later, heartbreak taught him what obedience never could: how to feel alive.

A raw, lyrical journey through faith, fear, and first love, Life and How to Live It: Volume 2 is a powerful coming-of-age memoir about reclaiming identity, breaking indoctrination, and finding truth in the echoes of your own voice. With unfettered honesty and poetic insight, Chaz Holesworth explores the daunting process of unlearning shame, questioning belief, and learning to live authentically after years of enforced silence. A heart-rending tale of resilience and a time capsule for pop culture in the mid-90s, this memoir is a reminder that the path to freedom begins when we stop simply surviving and start choosing to live.