How to be happy?

The other day I was walking.

Well, so it was really last night on my way home at about 10:15. But that doesn't really matter.

Anyway, as I walked a thought popped into my head.
I was who I was.
I am who I am.
I can be who I want to be.

Now, I'm not going to claim that I came up with this. It seems very probable that someone already thought about about it long before me. But I thought it was an interesting thought, and maybe even a key to happiness.

So I'm just going to go over my thoughts on it.

I was who I was
I think that this means accepting that what is done is done. In that, it can not be changed. But I feel like there is something more to it than that.

It also has to do with realizing that it is over. That I have changed, and am not who I was.

(You may now go and listen to Who I Am Hates Who I've Been by Reliant K.)

I am who I am
This part is in part similar to the idea that you have to love yourself. I won't go quite that far, but I think that it is important to recognize who we really are, right now. What are our flaws, and equally important, what are our strengths. Then I have to realize that I am not a bad person. (Well, unless you really are a bad person, but in my opinion truly bad people are very rare. You probably aren't one.)

(Feel free to go listen to Wonderful by Gary Go at this point.)

I can be who I want to be
I have the power to be something better, whatever I wish. I really think that that is true in the greatest sense of the phrase, although I do not believe that it is the case in the lesser senses of the phrase. Meaning I can become a better, even a perfect person, given enough time, and if it is truly my desire.

(You may now go watch the Transcendence Music Video by Lindsey Stirling.)

So this leads to some important questions.

What are my options?
What is my goal?
Is what I am doing helping me attain it?
In the past, why have I struggled?
In the past, how have I managed to change?
What can I change in who I am now, and what can I do to become more like I want to be?
Why do I want to change?

It is something interesting to think about, at least.