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3 November 2026

There is a quiet strength in being able to say, “I was wrong.”

We often associate confidence with standing firmly by our opinions. Changing our minds can feel like admitting defeat, particularly when we have defended a position for years. Sometimes pride makes us protect an old conclusion long after the reasons supporting it have disappeared.

Yet experience should do more than add years to our lives. It should also improve the way we understand them.

A conversation with someone younger may reveal something we overlooked. A new experience may challenge an assumption we never thought to question. Even an ordinary mistake can teach us that our judgement, however sincere, is not infallible.

Changing one’s mind does not mean having no convictions. It means allowing evidence and experience to refine them.

Perhaps the real measure of intellectual maturity is not how confidently we defend what we believe, but how honestly we examine why we believe it.

The world changes, circumstances change and people change. Our thinking should not remain permanently imprisoned by yesterday’s conclusions.

Rajat Chandra Sarmah, Guwahati, Assam, India, Instagram @rajatchandrasarmah, YouTube: conversewithasmile, email rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com