Choose to Change

I am a firm believe that we all choose the path we are on.  My life is a product of the choices that were made for me as a child, and the choices I have made since I was old enough to control my own fate.  Are there things that have happened along the way that I had no control over?  Absolutely.  But I chose how I responded to those situations, and in what direction I went.   I have not always made the best choices (who has??).  I have the scars and the baggage that I carry with me to prove it.  But I don't understand those that live in a misery of their own making.  Don't people realize that you can CHANGE every single thing about your self at any time?  It's never too late!  Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that it's easy.  You've got to want something better, something different, something more down to the core of your soul in order to make it happen sometimes.  If you don't love yourself enough to want it for you, why should anyone else want it for you? Remember - The only definition of YOU that you need to fulfill is the one that lay inside your head and your heart.

I'd like to think that every day is a new opportunity to chose something different if yesterday didn't turn out the way you wanted it to be.  Life is so short.  Watching my father die suddenly in front of me taught me that you can't waste a day.  I'm sure that when he woke up that morning, he didn't know it was his last.  Is today my last day?  I certainly hope not.  But if it is, I don't want to be standing here, wondering why I was unhappy when I could have done something different.  Tried something different.  Been something different.  I don't want to be lazy with my life.

No one said it better than Randy Pausch.  If you aren't familiar with Randy, he was computer sciences professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.  In September of 2006, Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in August of the following year was given 3-6 months to live.  He gave a speech at Carnegie Mellon entitled "The Last Lecture" that became a YouTube hit, lead to numerous television appearances and an inspirational book of the same name.  I highly recommend it.  It really helped reinforce to me that life is short, change is always possible, and it's never to late to be who you want to be.

I'm sharing a clip from Randy's appearance on "Oprah".  I hope that it moves you as much as it moves me every time I see it.  Don't waste your days.