Advice to Live By

Some of you may know that I kept a journal as I was growing up. I find it interesting to look back at my thoughts and events that shaped my life. This is a poem that I was given when I was 12 years old. The words have always stuck with me and I try to live by them. We are all given control over our own lives and we make our own choices. The older I get the more frustrating this is for me as I see people I love and care for making choices that may lead them down a path they don't want to be on. I can only give my love and support and hope that eventually they can see clearly enough to find a way to their own happiness. I do know this, You will not find happiness from somebody else. It is a feeling that comes from inside YOU. You can search the world over and chase many empty dreams but happiness is carried from within. Having said that, here is my favorite poem.
Myself
Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself- and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.