I remember when I was a kid playing war with plastic soldiers, my friends would get mad waiting for me to organize my battalions correctly in a straight line before the battle started. Later, when I was at home getting ready to do my homework, I would spend time tidying up my books, pencils and pens on one side, pencil sharpener and calculator on the other. Everything was at my fingertips in the order I would use them. My older sister would sometimes come in and screw everything up just to get mad and I’d stop working just to set it up again.

It’s something I struggled against for many years, but could never get rid of the hassle of the order, as my mother called it. Believe it or not, my teenage room was always in perfect order too, my clothes, CD’s, shoes, everything had a specific place where it had to be. I never considered it a problem; It is part of my way of being. My friends and family called me crazy and many times they lost their patience waiting for everything to work out. And then I went to university and everything changed, all my classmates wanted to study with me, they all wanted to work on their projects with me, from being the worst I became the best.

I studied industrial and electrical engineering, we had many projects, terms and procedures to study and learn and we did not have enough time to do it. From the beginning there was a difference between my peers and me, my compulsion turned into an advantage. I worked on my projects quickly and efficiently, scheduled my classes and study time to perfection and in the specific order my mind dictated. I graduated second in my class behind someone who thought he was even crazier than me. During the four years we were in college we had the opportunity to work together several times and we were dynamite together. Today he is a NASA consultant and I am a retired engineering writer.

It is up to each of us to accept special characteristics and eccentric ways of doing the things that we have. It is up to each of us to learn how to use them to our advantage. Most of the time it is much easier to find a way to use certain behaviors in a positive way than to try to change them. In fact, you can waste years trying to correct or change these behaviors and you will never be able to do so. It doesn’t matter what people think of you or your habits, what matters is what you think of yourself and what you do with what you have. The only way to be happy in life is to first be happy and satisfied with the way you are as a person, not with what you do or how much you have, but with who you are.

It does not matter how old you are, what you do or what you want to do if at this moment in your life you have not reconciled with yourself, now is the time to do it. Everyone in the world has a reason to be in this world, in one way or another we are all part of a larger scheme, a larger picture. It is not fair to feel unhappy with yourself, if you are; you will also make those around you unhappy. This is not fair; each of us has our own problems and situations to solve. Look at yourself, see what is inside of you, accept who you are and be happy. You owe it to yourself and to those who love and care about you.

Life is too short to waste complaining or trying to change what you cannot change. Embrace life and turn those supposedly negative characteristics into great assets for your life and that of your family. Success and happiness are in your mind and heart, no one is going to give them to you, your destiny and your life are yours to fulfill. Every human being shares his life with others, but the way you feel about yourself and the way you travel this path called life is your choice and no one else’s.