Published September 12, 2025 | By Bryan E, Collectors MD Supporter

When you’re dealing with addiction—or any life struggle—it’s easy to get stuck in the past. We replay mistakes, beat ourselves up, and wonder endlessly if things could have gone differently. But the truth is, the past is gone. It only defines who you are today if you let it.

What matters most is right now. This moment.

Maybe yesterday you slipped. Maybe you spent money you didn’t have, promised yourself it was the last time, and then gave in again. That doesn’t mean you’re doomed to repeat it today. It means you have another chance—right here, right now—to make a different choice.

You don’t need to solve everything at once. You don’t need to figure out forever. All you need is one step. Close the app. Walk away from the screen. Call someone who understands. Do one thing today that’s different from yesterday.

In the hobby, this is especially important. Collecting can lure us into repeating patterns—overspending, chasing dopamine, hiding purchases—because we feel like the past has already written our story. But that’s not true. Every day is a reset button. If yesterday you gave in to the chase, today you can choose intention instead of impulse.

It reminds me of a line from the movie, Cast Away. After losing so much, Chuck Noland says, “I know what I have to do now. I’ve got to keep breathing, because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring.”

Like Chuck Noland scrawling words of survival on a rock in Cast Away, we’re reminded that even in isolation and struggle, there’s always another chance. Another tide. Another sunrise.

That’s the point. You can’t control everything. But you can control the choice to keep breathing, to keep moving, and to stay open to what tomorrow might bring.

Because change doesn’t happen in giant leaps. It happens one choice at a time. One step at a time. One day at a time.

#CollectorsMD
Yesterday is gone. Today is a chance to choose differently.

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