I almost didn’t send that message

We met in Vegas. In front of a hotel. Taxis, suitcases, that specific kind of chaos.

A guy standing there with a box so big it looked like he was transporting furniture, not luggage.

I look at it and go: “No way… is that Nicky Diamond’s Bearbrick?”

He smiles. “Yeah. He also signed it for me yesterday at ComplexCon.”

“How do you even travel with that thing? You buying him his own seat?” I ask.

We start talking. Normal stuff. Where are you from, what do you do.

Then it gets a bit strange.

He mentions people. I know those people. Not “I’ve heard the names” know. Actually know.

Same world. Same circles. Different cities. Well, different continents.

We exchange Instagrams.

And that should’ve been it.

That’s how these moments usually end. A random conversation. A follow. And then nothing.

Two days later I’m in LA. I know he lives there.

And I have this thought: this was too random to ignore.

Immediately followed by the second one: don’t be annoying. He’s busy. It was just a moment.

You know that voice.

The polite one. The safe one. The one that keeps everything exactly where it is.

I almost listened.

Instead, I sent the message.

“Bro, this is too surreal. We randomly met in Vegas, have mutual friends… we should grab lunch.”

No overthinking. No perfect wording. Just send.

We met.

And somewhere in that conversation, he drops a sentence that quietly shifts something I’ve been stuck on for months.

No big scene. No dramatic breakthrough.

Just direction.

There’s a version of this story where none of that happens.

Where I don’t send the message. Where he becomes another contact I vaguely remember and never speak to again.

And the worst part?

I wouldn’t even know what I missed.

That’s the real danger.

Not failure.

Blind spots.

Daniel Arsham said it perfectly:

“The longer you wait to take that chance in your life, the shorter the future is going to be when you arrive there.”

Read that again.

You’re not waiting.

You’re shrinking your own future!

And he continues:

“We have only so much time on this earth. If there’s something you want to do in your creative life: do the thing now. Now is the time. Stop waiting. Just do it and figure it out. Because we can all live with failure… but living with regret is really difficult. So live with your failures. Don’t have any regrets.”

We like to imagine big decisions change our life.

But most of the time, it’s something small.

A message you almost didn’t send.

Send it.

Tino