Picture yourself in 20 years. What year is it? How old are you? Where are you? What are you doing with your time and energy? How do you feel? Are you healthy? Peaceful? Relaxed? What have you done with the past 20 years?

What this picture is now and what it will become are both up to you. You can’t (and shouldn’t!) expect a doctor or a minister or a family member to change your life for you. You can’t wait for other people to change for you. Take actions on your own behalf. Stand up for yourself and treat yourself well.

You may be wondering, “Where do I start? How?” You may feel overwhelmed and confused. Planning to change your stress habits or to develop a new lifestyle is a large task, but not an impossible one. Like all goals, it requires an honest will to pursue a course of action. It needs time and energy. It needs a plan for change. Planning is a process, not a product. There is no perfect plan and no plan will work forever. Your plan must be revised throughout life.

Goals will change, and so will life. You will need to make mid-course corrections. Stresses will come and go, but after all is said and done, you still remain. Make sure you don’t look back with regret on what might have been.