Maybe you think about them on a regular basis. Maybe you’ve adopted their ways subconsciously. Regardless of whether you’re able to pinpoint your most influential person, everybody has somebody who made you who you are today, for better or for worse.

They might not even realize they’ve changed you. Do they even know you?

Whatever your relation to them might be, they deserve recognition. Your challenge is to write, in letter format, a letter of appreciation to the person that has affected you the most in your life thus far.

“Appreciating” someone isn’t the same as “liking” them, keep in mind.

This challenge came to me earlier when I was trying to determine a list of my most influential people. It was extremely difficult, and there are quite a few people that were hard to rank.

I’m not judging on the same things I would look for in a fiction story. Now I’m looking for sincerity, eloquence, and honesty. Nonfiction, as oddly as that sits on my tongue. Sometimes you need to be your own character.