Just Damn

That moment denial finally clocks out.

Sometimes life doesn’t whisper lessons.
Sometimes it knocks you upside the head with a folding chair and yells, “Pay attention.”
That’s a Just Damn moment.

Some folks call it an epiphany.
Epiphany is way too polite.
Epiphany feels like incense and a soft choir.

Just Damn feels like dropping your phone face-down in a parking lot and knowing the screen is shattered before it even hits the pavement.

We all have those moments. We just don’t always catch them in real time because—let’s be honest—humans are exceptional at glossing over nonsense. I’m talking world-class glossers. We’ll see a red flag and say, “Well, it could just be decorative.”

Especially if you hate confrontation.
Which I do.

I avoid it like a mall kiosk salesperson with eye contact.

But—and this matters—
if it goes there…

I will immediately become the most confrontational person in the room.
No warm-up. No stretching. Straight into the octagon.

My friends will confirm: my mouth occasionally engages before the safety harness and muzzle are fully secured. I’m aware. I’m working on it. My progress is… inconsistent.

Lately, these Just Damn moments have been showing up like pop-up ads.
Uninvited. Loud. Impossible to close.

And the worst ones don’t come from strangers.
They come from people you never saw coming.

People—let’s call them functioning members of society—have an incredible ability to do things without considering the fallout. As long as it doesn’t affect them, it’s fine. Totally fine. Nothing to see here.

Until it hits you.

Suddenly you’re standing in your kitchen, holding your keys, staring at the wall, coffee halfway to your mouth, realizing you’ve been standing there for a full minute thinking, Well… just damn.

When it’s a friend, it hurts.
When it’s family?

That’s devastation, acted out in real time.
A full-scale theatrical production.

Costumes.
Prepared lines.
Same argument, recited from memory.
There’s even an intermission when we tell ourselves this is the last time.

Until it finally lands with you—not loud, not dramatic—but clear.

The actions, inactions, forgetfulness, selective memory, or plain old selfishness aren’t accidental.
They are a choice.

That’s the punch.

That’s when you stop explaining things away.
Stop saying, “That’s just how they are.”
Stop adjusting your mindset to keep the peace.

Because now you know.

And knowing changes everything that follows.
It knocks you out of autopilot.

It’s sad, sure. It hurts, absolutely.
But it’s also clarifying—like finally cleaning your glasses. You realize the blur wasn’t the world. It was you refusing to see it.

So, here’s to the JUST DAMN moments.
Those that sting.
Those that wake you up.
Those that remind you who and what deserves your time, your energy, and who you can let your guard down around.

Sometimes Just Damn moments aren’t there to ruin your day.
They’re there to show you the truth.

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