Free What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

it. While I was waiting on God, God was waiting on me. He was waiting on me to make a decision to either pursue the life that was meant for me or to be stifled by the one I was living. I recognized the truth that I am all right just as I am. I am enough all by myself.
    That revelation brought its own miracle. Around that time the call came for me to audition for a talk show in Chicago. If I’d stayed entangled in that relationship, my life as I know it would never have happened.
    What is the truth of your life? It’s your duty to know.
    In order to find out, know that the truth is that which feels right and good and loving. (Love doesn’t hurt, I’ve learned in the years since I was 29. It feels really good.) It’s that which allows you to live every day with integrity.
    Everything you do and say shows the world who you are. Let it be the truth.

     
     
    I’ll never forget the moment when I decided to always choose myself. I recall what I was wearing (a blue turtleneck and black slacks), where I was sitting (in my boss’s office), what the chair looked and felt like (brown paisley, too deep and overstuffed)—when my boss, the general manager at the Baltimore TV station where I worked, said, “There’s no way you can make it in Chicago. You’re walking into a land mine and you can’t even see it. You’re committing career suicide.”
    He used every tactic he could muster to entice me to stay—more money, a company car, a new apartment, and finally, intimidation: “You’re going to fail.”
    I didn’t know if he was right. I didn’t have the confidence to believe I could succeed. But somehow I gathered the nerve to say to him before standing up and walking out, “You’re right, I may not make it and I may be walking into land mines. But if they don’t kill me, at least I’ll keep growing.”
    In that moment, I chose happiness—the lasting happiness that abides with me every day because I decided not to be afraid and to move forward.
    Staying in Baltimore would have been the safe thing to do. But sitting in my boss’s office, I knew that if I let him talk me into staying, it would affect the way I felt about myself forever. I would always wonder what could have been. That one choice changed the trajectory of my life.
    I live in a state of exhilarated contentment (my definition of happiness), fueled by a passion for everything I’m committed to: my work, my colleagues, my home, my gratitude for every breath taken in freedom and peace. And what makes it sweeter is knowing for sure that I created this happiness. It was my choice.

     
     
    Time is fleeting. Those of you with children are ever cognizant of this fact—because your children keep growing out of and into themselves. The goal for all of us is to keep growing out of ourselves, too, evolving to our best possible lives.
    Somewhere deep within me, even when I was a teenager, I always sensed that something bigger was in store for me—but it was never about attaining wealth or celebrity. It was about the process of continually seeking to be better, to challenge myself to pursue excellence on every level.
    What I know for sure: Only when you make that process your goal can your dream life follow. That doesn’t mean your process will lead you to wealth or fame—in fact, your dream may have nothing to do with tangible prosperity and everything to do with creating a life filled with joy, one with no regrets and a clear conscience. I’ve learned that, yes, wealth is a tool that gives you choices—but it can’t compensate for a life not fully lived, and it certainly can’t create a sense of peace within you. The whole point of being alive is to become the person you were intended to be, to grow out of and into yourself again and again.
    I believe you can do this only when you stop long enough to hear the whisper you might have drowned out, that small voice compelling you toward your calling. And what happens then? You face the biggest challenge of