The list could go on and on, seemingly without end. However, not so long ago I began to realize that life is a journey, MY journey, not someone else's, but my own. I realized that I alone am responsible for my own happiness. No one else would truly care how I turned out, who I became, and whether or not I was happy. Only I could decide for myself, how I would live my life.

Rather than allowing myself to be influenced by other people, I had to take the bull by the horns and keep what I liked and discard or change the parts I didn't like. I either had to make changes and decisions or quit whining about all the things wrong in my life. So I did. It may sound selfish to be concerned about your own self, but it is far more selfish not to be concerned with your own feelings and then to find yourself dwelling on personal shortcomings. That makes everyone around you miserable. I believe that for many people, their top four priorities are:

• Child
• Spouse/significant other
• Job
• Housework/chores

Many may not ever give consideration to their own needs because we live in a society where being concerned with one's own self is considered selfish. Why is that? Where is it written than spending time on your own person is selfish in any way? If you aren't happy with yourself, can anyone around you be happy? If you don't love yourself, can you really love anyone else?

I remember a time when I was overweight. I was at the beach on vacation with my family. My folks always went to the beach and I was never interested in going to the ocean and putting on a bathing suit. My mother would say to me, "if you weren't fat you would like the beach". A few years ago, I finally made the decision to lose my weight. I lost 98 pounds. Did I lose it because someone told me I should? Did I lose it because society would view me as acceptable? Did I lose it to fit into a certain size? Absolutely not on all counts. I lost my weight because I chose to. I wasn't happy being overweight. I have many dear friends who are large people and I love them just as they are because they are happy with themselves. That is the key - happiness! Tall or short, fat or thin, black or white, it doesn't matter. Love yourself. Embrace yourself. When it comes down to the real grit of who you are, your soul isn't a height or a weight or a color, it is simply you, the true essence of what makes you your very own being. I will tell you this, having lost all that weight, I still despise going the beach! It had nothing to do with how I looked in a bathing suit; it had everything to do with me.

Is it better to waste our time on this planet worrying? Whether it is worrying about things we can or can't change, what does worrying get any of us other than no sleep, and no results. It is so easy to waste our lives - minutes, hours, days - when in reality we should spend our time enriching our lives with whatever makes us happy.

Life is a journey. Learn to love the journey, not the destination.

Submitter's comments: "I hope this article is taken with the love, understanding and respect with which it was written."