For the last few days, I have been receiving an unusually high amount of compliments from people. They have been telling me that I seem very happy, that I look like I lost weight, that I appear to be in great shape - and that I look handsome. Then just yesterday, my heart doctor told me, after a routine exam - that I am the healthiest I have ever been since the day I first walked into his office. This recent barrage of compliments followed by a clean bill of health from my Cardiologist made me realize the reason why I am receiving so many compliments and why my heart is performing so well - the recent changes that I have made to my life.

As my life stands right now, I am back Moderating the Digest, I have a home of my own that I love, I am only surrounding myself with friends that are positive and supportive, I am writing again, my website is back up - and Mary and I are in love with each other. Just six months ago, none of those things were true - not one. And in addition to not having any of that in my life - what I did have in my life were only negative and draining "people" that did nothing but cause unnecessary drama and take advantage of my hospitality and resources. That is why six months ago, I looked sickly, I hardly ate, I was reclusive - and I wound up in the hospital with heart palpitations that reached almost 300 beats a minute.

But now that the negative is gone for good and the positive has returned to stay, so has my health, my happiness - and my positive and upbeat demeanor - hence the compliments and the healthy heart. I now realize, after all the recent compliments I received and the news I got after the visit to my doctor, that when I made the life change I did in July of this year - I literally saved my own life.

Looking back, I have no idea how I survived as long as I did under those conditions and realize now that if I stayed in that situation - you probably would not be reading this or any of my other recent columns. Each day was a nightmare and as one day became the next, the situation only got worse. Basically, all of the things and people that I normally surrounded myself with were gone and nothing remained but dark, draining, lecherous "people" that brought nothing to the table but drama, problems - and their own warped issues and agendas. I can honestly say that as the situation got worse, I practically watched everything I had in my life slip through my fingers during those dark months - and can only imagine what else I would have lost if I kept living that way. I know I would have lost my apartment, the rest of my friends, possibly my job - and maybe even my life from the constant stress I was under. But none of that matters now - because I saved my own life by getting out of the situation I was in and getting rid of the "people" that put me there.

And now, all the good things in my life have returned with a vengeance, along with new positive aspects of my life that I would not be experiencing now if not for the decisions I made a few months ago - that I now know saved my own life.

Now, in addition to being everyone else's hero - I am my own too.