No hard feelings.
Bachelor Nation fans saw Clayton Echard and Susie Evans find love on Season 26 of “The Bachelor.”
After the show, the two moved in together in Virginia Beach and shared their life with fans on social media.
But in October, the two took Instagram to reveal that they have unfortunately decided to go their separate ways.
Now, Clayton is stopping by the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, where he’s opening up about life post-breakup.
Clayton discussed a recent moment where he was driving and was overcome with happiness.
He said, “I just had this moment and I was jamming out to music and I was so grateful and thankful. The first person my mind went to was Susie. She is the reason why you are here in this position. When the show ended, I had lost all stability and structure. I left my job and was trying to make the influence stuff work, but it wasn’t working like I thought. Influencing is hard. I hate that people say it’s so easy. It’s a full-time job and I’m not good at it.”
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Clayton went on and shared how Susie helped him navigate this new chapter, saying, “Susie would be on social media looking at what’s popular and following the trends. She loves social media. She is an incredible influencer and person. I was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do next. I wanted to go back to corporate America in medical sales because it felt safe, but Susie stopped me. She saw how happy I was on the days when I made an impact on people. She said I shouldn’t give up yet and that I have more in me even though I had tried.”
The former Bachelor said that his now ex pushed him to keep working and give following his dreams another chance.
“I did, and things started to turn in my favor and realized I could make a living off what I was doing. This was in line with my true passions, unlike medical sales. That only happened because of her, otherwise I’d be back working my sales job right now. That wouldn’t have been bad, but that wasn’t my passion,” Clayton explained.
Even after their split, Clayton still knows he has Susie to thank for a lot of his current happiness, so he decided to let her know with a special note.
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He said, “I have her to thank for all of that and I wanted to let her know that. I sent her a message and just said thank you so much for all that she’s done for me and how she’s truly impacted my life for the better. I also just wanted to let her know that I was also sorry for the turmoil that I put her through, whether it was directly or indirectly. I hurt her in a lot of ways. I didn’t mean to, but sometimes I did.”
And while they aren’t together anymore romantically, Clayton said he’s grateful that he and Susie can still support each other and be friends.
He shared, “When it’s all said and done, she is an incredible human being and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for her, and I wanted to let her know that. People need to reach out and let people know how much they mean to them. When you spread positivity, it comes back. I’m so thankful that she and I have that relationship where we can still talk and check in from time to time.”
Now that he’s had some time to reflect, Clayton also shared how he feels about his relationship with Susie not working out.
He said, “I have nothing bad to say about her. Yeah, I wish things would’ve worked out. It’s really tough when someone didn’t do anything destructive. It’s really hard when you just realize you’re not compatible. You wish you were, but you’re just not.”
To hear more of Clayton’s conversation on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, check out the full episode below.
And click here for the resources discussed in this week’s episode: Competency Training Mandate for Teachers in MN and Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man (book).
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