Prompt: Write about when an interest becomes part of who you are.
Okay, the prompt for today, June 23, 2026, is: Write about when an interest becomes part of who you are.
I don’t know that I fully understand this one.
What first comes to mind is a couple of my tattoos. I have a tattoo of a fountain pen on my right forearm, and on the back of my left hand I have a quill pen and a bottle of ink.
At one point, I think those tattoos represented something different than they do now. When I first got them, they were about a love of writing. I was collecting fountain pens at the time, and I thought they were beautiful objects. I was journaling regularly, and I’ve been journaling for as long as I can remember. The pens fit that part of my life.
As time has gone on, though, they’ve taken on a different meaning.
Part of that comes from another tattoo I have on my left forearm—a sword. It was supposed to be based on the sword of the person I was named after, though it didn’t really turn out that way. I was probably too young and too foolish to notice at the time.
Now, when I look at those tattoos together, I see them as symbols for two different ways of moving through the world.
There are, broadly speaking, two ways to create change. One is through force—through action, through imposing something on the world. The other is through words—through persuasion, diplomacy, reason, and conversation.
Every day, in one way or another, we’re choosing between those approaches. Are we trying to force a change, or are we trying to convince someone? Are we acting physically, or are we relying on ideas?
The tattoos have grown into that meaning over time. They’ve changed as I’ve changed.
I don’t know if that fully answers the question of when an interest becomes part of who you are, but it does make me think about how interests evolve. They carry different weight at different points in our lives. They ebb and flow.
Some interests come and go. Others stay with us.
The ones that matter most tend to stick around.
Writing has done that for me. I don’t write nearly as much as I’d like to, and I certainly don’t write as well as I’d like to. These days, AI does a fair bit of my writing, and if I’m being honest, lately I’ve been talking more than writing anyway.
Still, writing remains one of those things that keeps returning. No matter how much it changes, it continues to be part of who I am.
You can find this prompt and many more at Letters’ Lounge, letterslounge.com.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic—or any of the others—so please leave a comment or share a link to your own blog, audio journal, or whatever form your reflections take. I’ll be sure to give it a read or a listen.
All right, folks. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was lightly cleaned up with the help of AI to improve readability while preserving the original voice and intent of the recording.
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