Roaming Towards Myself

This prompt is tricky for me, because I don’t really have a list of people I go to for advice.
That probably sounds arrogant, but it isn’t meant that way. It’s just true.
Most of the time, people come to me for advice. I’m the one people talk things through with. I’m the one who listens, weighs things up, and says the thing out loud that everyone else is dancing around.
That doesn’t mean I think I know everything. I absolutely do not. Life has made sure of that.
But I’ve reached a point where I trust my own judgement more than I used to. I’ll listen to people. I’ll read. I’ll research. I’ll take in different opinions. But I don’t usually look to one person and think, “Tell me what to do.”
I admire people who are honest. People who keep going when life gets messy. People who don’t pretend everything is easy just because it looks better online.
I admire practical people. Kind people. People with backbone. People who can admit when they were wrong. People who don’t need to be the loudest person in the room to have something worth saying.
But when it comes to advice, I mostly look inward now.
I’ve lived enough life to know that not everyone giving advice understands the full weight of your choices. They don’t have to live with the outcome. You do.
So I listen. I think. I research. I sometimes overthink, because apparently that feature came pre-installed. Then I make the decision myself.
The person I probably look to most for advice now is the version of me who has already survived things I once thought would break me.
She usually knows more than I give her credit for.