Happy 🥰
Today I rejoice. I'm so thankful for this beautiful community. Thankful for your energy and kindness. Thankful for giving me the courage to speak my truth. Thankful that you allow me to experiment. With different voices. Different perspectives. Different realties.
Today I want to tell you about a challenge that my siblings Valencia Washington and Lamar Washington and I have been talking about a lot lately.
The three of us have been through hell. And I'm sure you probably have been too. We live with regret. The woulda coulda shouldas. The what ifs.
I recently told a family member that I am choosing not to let regret destroy me. But I lied.
Regret and sorrow have always taken up too much time and space in my life. I've given too much and asked for too little.
In the grand scheme of things, I lost myself. I forgot what I stand for. What makes me happy. What makes me smile. What makes me giggle!
Born into survival mode, my life has always been in crisis. As I found out a few years ago, that level of fear does structural damage to the brain. It changes you. For life.
The challenge?
It's a simple one. It will most likely bring up some emotions we haven't felt in a while. Some memories that might be nice. Or they may be some things we're not yet prepared to deal with.
Likely it will require some level of introspection. Which is exactly what I want. Exactly what I need.
Reality bites. It's a slap in the face that you didn't see coming. It's the raw helplessness. The embarrassment of not reacting fast enough. Of knowing you could have done better. But also the inability to go back in time to change your reaction. Your response time. And ultimately? Your destiny. Your history. Maybe even your identity. But…
What if we actually could go back in time?
What if we could rewrite our whole story, from the ground up. Would you?
My siblings and I wish to rewrite our past. If only to explore what might have been. Who we might have become. What we might have accomplished.
We understand it won't actually change our past. It won't give back the ones we miss.
But it will allow thought. Self exploration. Insights we may have feared. Outcomes we might have never even considered. Some good, some not so good.
Would you like to join us?
©️ 2026
By Sir Nick Nicolai Addams
Not for reproduction
Photo by Eden Kurnaz. I love its bright hope. The closed door that brings to mind a Pandora's box of possibilities! Let the challenge begin! 🏆