From Old Files to Fresh Starts

Why the most powerful shift in your life won’t come from fate — it comes from you.

Author

Joe Wyrwas
April 27, 2025

Earlier this weekend, while sorting through an old hard drive from my high school and college days, I stumbled across a document I hadn’t seen in years.

It was from April 2007 (just a few weeks before I graduated high school), and at the top, it said:

We all need a catalysis. not something just to motivate us. not just to inspire. but something that gives us hope; hope in ourselves, hope in our abilities, hope that we will change the world. hope that we can do the impossible.

But we wait for this catalyst. We wait for it to come. We wait for something that may never come.

Instead, you need to make your own catalysis. Even that's a stretch. Don't wait for a catalyst to change you. Make the change on your own. If not, you'll remain the same stoic bystander to your own life that no one cares about, wasting away into oblivion.

There was plenty of teenage angst in those words... but also a surprising amount of truth. If you're looking for change, make the change.

Don’t wait for someone else, or some perfect moment, to give you permission.

Our culture loves stories where a hero is thrust into greatness by fate, by destiny, by circumstance. But so often, greatness isn’t handed to anyone — it's built, one decision at a time, by people who choose to act.

Real change doesn’t come from clichés or platitudes. It comes from small, imperfect, courageous steps.

So today, I challenge you.

Take just 10 minutes for yourself. (Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today.)

And do these three things:
1️⃣ Ask yourself honestly: What change do you want to make? (If you're not sure, ask: What story have I been telling myself and others that needs to change?)
2️⃣ Write down one small action you will take today toward that change.
3️⃣ Schedule 10 minutes within the next 7 days to repeat this exercise. (Because change isn’t a one-time act. It’s a habit you build.)

If you’re ready to become your own catalyst, and want someone to walk that journey with you, I’m here.