The Point of Power Is Now

There was a season in my life when I kept replaying the same reel.

Every what if.

Every I should’ve known better.

Every version of me that stayed too long, spoke too little, or kept pretending everything was fine.

I thought if I studied it hard enough, if I could understand the exact moment things went wrong, I could finally change the ending.

But peace doesn’t come from dissecting the wreckage.

It comes from releasing the illusion that you could’ve done it differently when you didn’t know what you know now.

The past is over.

It can’t be edited.

But it can be integrated.

The point of power has never been back there.

It’s right here, where your feet are planted, where your breath lands, where your next choice lives.

I remember sitting in my car one night after a conversation that went sideways.

My hands on the steering wheel, replaying every word, every tone, trying to prove, mostly to myself, that I’d grown, that I was better now.

And then it hit me. I was still living like my past self owed everyone an explanation.

That night, I decided to stop defending my old chapters.

They don’t need my defense.

They already served their purpose.

For years, I lived like the past was a courtroom.

Every decision went on trial. Every version of me, ambitious, wounded, hopeful, afraid, was cross-examined.

And I was both the judge and the accused.

But the past doesn’t negotiate.

It doesn’t bargain.

It just waits, patiently, for you to stop asking permission to move on.

Freedom came the day I stopped auditioning for redemption and started living like I’d already been forgiven.

You don’t owe anyone the annotated version of your healing.

You don’t have to justify why it took time.

You don’t have to replay the tape to prove you’ve learned.

You simply have to choose differently now.

I used to treat the present like a waiting room.

When work slows down.

When I lose the weight.

When I finally have time.

But all that waiting kept me living in delay.

Life doesn’t happen once everything settles.

Life is everything happening right now, the messy, the beautiful, the in-between.

The day my dad passed, I remember how the air felt too still.

I stood in my mom’s kitchen and thought, nothing will ever be the same.

And I was right. It wouldn’t.

But that moment also showed me something sacred.

This is it.

This moment is the only one we’re guaranteed.

The point of power isn’t some future version of yourself with perfect boundaries and flawless skin and every financial goal met.

It’s you, right now, choosing how to respond to what’s in front of you.

That’s where change begins.

That’s where clarity starts to breathe.

When your mind drifts to what you should have done, pause.

Catch the story gently. “That was then.”

Take a breath.

Feel your feet on the floor.

Ask, what do I need right now?

Then take one small forward action.

Send the message.

Step outside.

Write the truth.

Move fifty dollars into savings.

Do one thing that anchors you back into today.

You can’t change the past, but you can change your relationship with it.

And that changes everything.

The past made me wiser.

The pain softened me where I needed grace and sharpened me where I needed grit.

The lessons made me luminous in ways I didn’t know light could exist.

I don’t want to erase who I was. She got me here.

But I’m no longer handing her the microphone.

The point of power is now.

In the quiet, unglamorous moments when no one’s watching.

In the grace you give yourself when old stories resurface.

It takes courage to address what hurts and do something about it.

That’s empowerment, meeting yourself in the present moment and choosing to live, not linger.

Whatever happened, happened.

What you do next is the story that matters.

So if this met you where you are, let it linger.

Please don’t rush to fix or label it.

Just notice what softens, what stirs, what feels ready to shift.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is face what’s real, money, mindset, emotion, and tend to it with honesty.

Not because you need to prove anything, but because you’re finally ready to live aligned with your truth.

When you choose to address what’s real, you reclaim your life in real time.

That’s where healing begins.

That’s where power lives.

And that’s where you finally start to feel free.