"My baseball career was exactly where I’d hoped it would be at that point, but there was suddenly a giant hole in my soul. I fell asleep on the plane, a perfumed white ribbon intertwined in my fingers, the same hand acting as a pillow between my head and the window."

A multi-millionaire at age 18, Cole Blackburn left the cocoon of his rural Minnesota life to be on his own for the first time. He was determined to make it to the big leagues and not lose the love of his life.

Diagnosed with social anxiety disorder at an early age, the painfully shy and awkward teenager had to find a way to balance his desire to be anonymous with the money and notoriety generated by his immense talent. He wanted no part of the social media clicks and instant fame sought by so many others in an internet world.

Two years after leaving home and on the brink of realizing his lifelong goal, Cole’s idyllic life suddenly fell apart. Tragedy and betrayal combined with feelings of abandonment crippled him with waves of anxiety, affecting every facet of his life.

Standing on a pier at dawn in the spot that centered his world, he had to choose: Fight through the anxiety or leave the limelight behind and return to being Just Cole from Mankato.