Daily writing prompt

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

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One of the most positive changes I’ve made in my life didn’t arrive with fireworks or a grand announcement. It arrived when I was walking on a graveled path with no one around and this voice came to me and said, “Tom start trying to be something you are not. You were created too just by yourself.” Therefore after 65 years I decided to just be myself.

It sounds simple, almost embarrassingly simple, like something you’d find stitched on a pillow or printed on a coffee mug. But it wasn’t simple at all. It took decades of trying to fit into expectations, smoothing out my edges, second‑guessing my instincts, and worrying about what people might think. It took raising a family, working hard, making mistakes, learning from them, and living long enough to realize that most of the things I once worried about didn’t matter nearly as much as I thought.

After that event— I stopped performing and started existing. I stopped trying to be the version of myself I thought people wanted and became the version that felt true. The version that laughs easily, speaks honestly, volunteers freely, and doesn’t apologize for taking up space in the world.

It took me around sixty‑five years to get there, but the timing feels right. There’s a freedom in later life that no one tells you about when you’re young. A kind of quiet confidence. A sense that you’ve earned the right to be exactly who you are, without trimming or polishing or shrinking.

And once I finally arrived at that place — that place of being yourself without hesitation — I wondered why it took an unknown voice. But I also realized the journey was part of the becoming. Every year, every misstep, every lesson carved out the space I now stand in.

Being myself is the best change I’ve ever made. It just took me a lifetime to grow into it.