The Promise I Made to Myself That I Actually Kept

What’s a promise you made to yourself that you’ve actually kept?

By: SodakArtist

When I first read this prompt, my mind didn’t go to a promise about money, success, or some achievement hanging on a wall.

My mind went actually went back to a moment when I was 29 years old. A moment when life felt like it had become a battle inside my own mind.

Those were some of the darkest days I have ever experienced.

The kind of darkness that is difficult to explain to someone who has never felt it.

A place where your thoughts become heavier than your surroundings, where finding a reason to continue for even another second can feel like searching for a single spark in an endless night.

And I became extremely close to losing that battle.

But somewhere deep inside me, there was still a small voice that refused to disappear.

A voice that said: “Just make it through another day.”

So that’s what I did. I made myself a promise. A promised to myself that I would live another day.

Now I know that may sound like the simplest promise someone could make, but for me, it was the the toughest and yet most important promise I have ever made/keeping.

Because every day I chose to stay became another opportunity. Another chance to discover something new. Another chance to become someone I had not yet met.

Through determination, dedication, and sheer will, I slowly began finding pieces of myself that had been there all along.

I found my creativity. I found my art.

I had always drawn a little throughout my life, but I never truly understood how important that part of me was. I never saw it as more than something I enjoyed. I didn’t realize that creativity was a language I had been speaking my entire life.

Looking back, the signs were always there.

Before I became the artist I am today, I was already a creator.

I played music. I performed in All-State Band. I competed at a college level and even placed in the top three as a sixth grader. Music was something I connected with deeply, but eventually, around my senior year of high school, I stepped away from it.

I thought that chapter had ended.

But creativity doesn’t disappear.

Sometimes it simply waits for the right moment to return.

Many years later, that creative spark that had been quietly waiting inside me finally had a place to shine. It came alive through painting, photography, writing, woodworking, and the many other ways I found to bring ideas into reality.

I realized I wasn’t just making things. I was expressing a part of myself that had always been there. And the more I created, the more I wanted to understand. My curiosity grew alongside my creativity, and I discovered that my desire to learn came from the same place as my desire to create.

Creation and knowledge became two sides of the same journey.

I became fascinated with understanding the world beyond the surface. I found myself studying ideas, exploring topics, and asking questions that many people never think to ask.

The more I learned, the more I realized growth is never finished.

Every new skill became another tool.

Every experience became another lesson.

Every creation became another piece of my story.

The person I am today was not built in one single moment. It was created through every challenge I overcame, every lesson I learned, and every day I kept the promise I made to myself.

The promise I made at 29 wasn’t just about surviving.

It was about giving myself the chance to discover my purpose. Because if I had not kept that one promise, I would have never discovered the artist, the creator, the learner, and the person I was always capable of becoming.

Today, I am still learning.

I am still creating.

I am still growing.

And when I look back, I realize the greatest promise I have ever kept was also the most powerful:I promised myself I would live another day.

And every day after that became another blank canvas waiting to be filled.

So I ask you: What promise did you make to yourself that you actually kept?

Thank you for reading another creation from SodakArtist. Remember, every day you choose to continue is another chance to create something the world has never seen before.