About

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 keep a record of who I was at any given moment, to challenge established conventions within our culture and upheave the status quo, to spur us to constantly evolve our perspective of the world and humanity as a whole. It is also an attempt to distill the inexorable complexity of my thoughts and emotions—represented through my writing, as well as quotes and music I've collected along the way—and convert the mysterious workings of my mind and heart into something generous I can share with the world. The homepage, as you might have seen on your way here, is a number of constellations—thoughtfully sorted fragments of my writing, quotes, and music that I hope would help us make sense of complex themes of our world and the human condition.