We are predisposed to ascribe legacies onto our actions—what we’ve done to change the world or the people around us. But what about the legacy of our thoughts and feelings, no matter how transient they are? They are, after all, the building blocks toward the action and change in the world we seek to make.

It Only Happens Once is a blog that seeks to embrace the ephemeral and impermanence of our thoughts and emotions. For a long time, I condemned this idea of the transience of self, looking upon it with disdain. I had always insisted I would always be the same, that I would find success, meaning, and purpose in life despite my circumstances, not because of them. But over the past several years, I’ve realized that my circumstances have guided me—but not dragged me—to a point where I can finally say I’m proud to be who I am. My hope is that you’ll embark on this journey with me to let go and find freedom in expression, in thought, and in identity.

The spirit behind this blog is that “you” or “I” is an ever-changing concept where at any given point in time, it constitutes a unique, one-of-a-kind experience of the world that can never be replicated. It is the idea that as your circumstances constantly shift your experience of the world—your physiology, perception, emotional states, worldview, your conception of meaning and purpose, and the way you let the past shape your personality and character—you ultimately become a different person than we were ten years ago, one year ago, one month ago, or even one day ago. My primary intention with this blog is to challenge established conventions within our culture and upheave the status quo, to spur you and me to constantly evolve our perspective of the world and humanity as a whole.

What to expect:

• Every extended reflection will be accompanied by a song, playlist, or performance. Music is as important of a mode of conveying emotion for me as is writing, and I want others to be able to experience part of that with me.

• All cover art is AI-generated by Midjourney.

• The journal page is where you’ll find daily posts of short-form writing, rants, and content I feel is worth sharing.

• Lastly, but most importantly, I will avoid any major content edits, and posts will never be deleted. There will be edits to fix formatting or typos, but never significant changes to the content itself. If I’m wrong about something, I will embrace it let it be part of my history. As per the namesake of the blog, it only happens once.