A letter from Jul 17, 2025

Dear rick (One Year From Now), Hey, man. It’s me — You. Just about a year ago. You’re probably in finals right now… or maybe already a Mechatronics Engineer. Either way, if you’re reading this, you made it through. That’s already something to be proud of. It’s been almost a year since you had the vasectomy. You’re 22 now. Recently graduated, hopefully — or maybe applying again if things didn’t go as planned. Either way, I just want to ask… How are you, really? Did you travel? Did you find peace? Did you fall in love again — or fall deeper in love with your own life? I hope therapy helped. I hope you feel lighter. You’ve been through hell and still chose to keep building. That’s courage. This letter comes from a version of you that had just: Left the Borg (Jehovah’s Witnesses) Gotten out of a painful breakup Survived years of abuse And started rewriting life from scratch And even though things feel weird and uncertain — especially living alone, not talking to Mom after everything she did — I want to tell you this: You don’t owe anyone connection, especially not the people who hurt you. If you reconnected, I hope it’s on your terms. And if you didn’t, that’s okay. Never forget what we lived through. Not to stay bitter, but to stay grounded. Because the people who were supposed to protect you didn’t — and that left you with trauma, PTSD, and years of confusion. But you’re healing now. I know you are. I hope by now you’ve found something to believe in even if it’s just yourself. I hope you’ve kept growing even slowly. And above all, I hope you’re proud of yourself. You should be. You did what most people don’t dare to do: You faced the truth. You broke the cycle. You began again. If today’s hard, I’m still here — always — reminding you of everything you’ve survived. Keep going. With love, rick (21)