What Are You Making Yourself?

     I was having a discussion with a friend the other day and as anyone who knows me knows, discussions with me can lead to all sorts of tangents. This particular talk spring boarded me to thinking about what we make of ourselves. Allow me to indulge my brain here for a few minutes. 
     What I've noticed about people lately is that they (and I include myself here) tend to make a whole lot of excuses as to why they are the way they are. As if their personality and character is but a mere result of other peoples' actions. They say that they can't do a particular thing because they were never taught how to properly do it. Or they behave in a certain way because they have a character flaw that's the result of mistreatment at the hands of another. They take their lives and make it a total victim scenario. 
     What I've learned in my 40 years on this planet is that this attitude and way of thinking is completely wrong and detrimental to any sort of positive, progressive life. Our pasts most definitely play a role in who we are. We learn from mistakes we've made and mistakes that others have made. Our personalities, to a certain extent reflect the experiences we've had. But overall, I firmly believe that we have to step up and take control over our own destinies. We can sit back on our laurels and whine about how difficult it is for us to lose weight because x, y, and z medical ailments or we step up and say "I'll be damned if I'm going to let these health issues hold me back!"  We can say that we treat people unfairly because of the unfair way that someone has treated us or we can act honorably and say that we will treat others fairly in spite of how we were treated. We can say that we cannot do this thing because we were slighted and never taught the skills or we can say that we will learn the skills needed and excel at that thing. You see? It's all within our power. Everything we want to achieve is within our grasp if we change our mindsets. 
     I always had a vision in my mind of the person that I wanted to be, the image that I wanted to portray (yes, we all want to portray some sort of image, don't kid yourself into thinking that we don't). I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to live with that image being purely a mental one. Until one day I decided that I would no longer accept that. So I changed how I acted. I changed how I lived. I started becoming this character in my head and began bringing that mental image to life. I was expressing and living what my soul was screaming that it wanted to be. Some people, I'm sure, thought I was changing who I was for the worse. They saw that because they had never truly known me to begin with, hel, I had hardly even known me! But their thoughts and feelings really aren't my concern. As long as I am living my life in a way that makes me happy, and keeps my daughter safe and happy, then everyone else just needs to stay on the sidelines with their feelings because this isn't their life, it's mine. I will make of it what I will.
     Believe me, people will talk as you begin to make your life your own. They will gossip and nay-say and badmouth who you are and your actions. Let them. Most of the time, they are the people who are too weak to take responsibility for their own lives. They are the constant victims, crying about what circumstances have done to them; whining about how bad of a deal they got. While they whine about the cards they've been dealt, we'll be the ones taking and setting the cards on fire because we refuse to play this nonsensical game any longer! 
     So I ask you this: what do you want to be and why have you waited so long?