That's an interesting theology you have there, John.
But, with all due respect, I think I'll stick with Catholic theology.
I was always taught that sins of your past life should NOT be embraced or come-to-terms with, but rather cast away from you as far as possible, confessed, and penance done to atone for them.
Saying past sins are "part of who I am" is a non-Catholic attitude toward past sins, which more closely approximates Protestant thinking.
As I understand it, Catholics should always strive to root out of themselves not only the sinful habits they have, but also the stain the sins have left. For example, a man who suffered under the vice of impurity for 5 years should strive to become pure -- not just avoid the sin. He should never say, "Being a bit weak to sins of the flesh is part of who I am" but he should instead strive through penance to erase the STAIN of sin as well, such that he could become, with God's grace, even STRONG against that sin in particular.
Didn't Mary Magdalene become a great penitent, living in the desert and doing more penance -- which implies having greater self-control -- than most of us?
My own past sins are something I'm ashamed of, I hate to even think of them, and I certainly hate/despise them. I've confessed them to the best of my ability, and hope that I do enough penance and good works to atone for them before my death. If I had any physical evidence of any of them I'd love nothing more than to burn/destroy it.
A person cannot properly REPENT OF sins without literally wishing you hadn't done them to begin with. That's the very definition of repent.