Create Your Own Personal Creed

We live in a world where we are governed by the actions of others.  I have a lot of friends who are raised to uphold numerous family truths, because it is what their families have done for gnerations and generations. While tradition can be a positive, and there are number of things that should be preserved, I also believe that you should work to build your own personal creed, because living out someone else's dreams preserves their legacy, but it puts yours to death. 

Here are 9 rules that I have devised over the years, that have not steered me wrong yet. They aren't hard and fast rules but they are some guiding principles that I use to make an attempt at being a decent person. I encourage you to possible take a few and develop your own creed. What is your life story going to be about. How will you govern you life. So many of us simply shuffle through life, and look back and wonder where it went. We just try to do the best that we can, with no real idea of what or who we want to be. Create a creed. Who are you? Who do you want to be. What is guiding your actions and your thinking. Don't be afraid to let it evolve, 2 years ago I was anti-vulnerability, today, I'm trying hard to lean into it.  6 years ago, I was anti-exercise, today I work out everyday, sometimes 2 or three times a day. Even as you evolve hold to a few truths that you desire to shape the way that you do this thing we call life.

1. Start With God. Stay with God. Meet him early before the sun rises. Begin new endeavors with him. Begin with God, Stay with God, Finish Strong. There is a sweetness that is added to living when you do it with God. This one isn't about being uptight or holier than though. This one is about living your life the way it was created to be lived. Sure there are plenty of things we use in this life, that we usue out of their primary function, but everyone knows are car runs best with a full talk of gas and a fresh oil change. Essentially, Starting and Stay with God keeps you on full all the time. When you're on full you can smell the roses, and weather the storm, but on E, simple issues in life threaten to take you out each time.
2. Take one month a year to travel to somewhere new and live in their culture. Journal about it. Try insane things. Live CoJo, Live. This one is one I am working to implement as we speak. I travel alot as it is. Travel is one of the few ways I mentally expand my brand, and decompress at the same time. The more uncharted territory I charter, the more ideas I can cultivate in my day to day life. I'll let you in on a little secret, there is nothing like traveling with someone you love. For me sometimes that is travelling by myself (because I love me) and other cases travelling with another human being I adore. I realize everyone can't take a whole month every year, but I encourage us all to maximize our time travelling, and not just touristing. 
3. Set aside one day a week where you don't set an alarm clock. For me that day is Saturday. Every other day of the week 5am does it. By not setting the alarm that day, I am allowing myself a minature vaction from the world to decompress. Remember even God rested on the third day. Considering I work harder than I did most of the week (and in a far different way) it is a breath of fresh air to typically start my saturday on my terms. Of course there are plenty of exception when people insist on meeting on Saturday mornings, but far and wide, Saturday is my day to do as I please.
4. Don't be afraid to love the most. Vulnerability is scary, but with the right person it will yield you those deep waters. We live in a culture that is all about "Don't chase people" and "I'm not text anyone who doesn't text me" and "If I'm not important enough to be on the forefront of your mind, then you don't deserve to be on mine." I think all of this is the antithesis of love. Love is not concerned with what it gets in return. Love looks for ways to continue to give of itself. If no one is willing to make the first move out of fear of being too thirsty, or being percieved as desperate, we have lost sight of what love and relationship is. I know your ego doesn't want to let you send the text or make the gesture, but if we're going to be real, the chance for romance is worth it. We can speculate all day what a person is thinking, and desiring, but until you ask you'll never know for sure. It is ok to love hard. I'm proponetnt of it. When you love hard, you open yourself up to be loved harder.
5. Tend to your body. You only get one. Work it now so that it will work while others break down. How you eat and whether you work out may not mean a whole lot today, but in 30 or 40 years those of us who kept our bodies in good shape will reap serious benefits. A well respected Pastor in the area, just passed away at 32 years old from a heart attack. We have to pay attention to how we are stewarding our bodies, because at 32 I want to still be hitting it hard, as I do as 82. Work out, pay attention to what you eat and take care of your body. For me that's a daily swim, and if I'm over zealous I'll throw in a bike ride, a trail run or even a rock climb. At the end of the day, I breathe better, live better, think better and feel better when I pay attention to how I treat this body.
6. Tend to your S.O.'s needs as if they are your own. Everyone needs a champion, the worse feeling is to feel as though what you want and need is diminished by who you're with. If someone is your significant other, that is the assumption (on my part) that you are moving toward marriage. To be married means that you are one another's "suitable helper." You're the one person whose job is make this walk easier for the other person. If your better half has needs, treat them as if they were your own, because in marriage you're one flesh, so their needs are your needs.
7. Package you in a unique capsule that is intriguing & timeless but don't compromise you for what's expected of you. Be unapologetically you, while being receivable. People don't just buy your product, they buy through their confidence in your ability to deliver through the product. Live for Christ, Dress for you. We can go all day about all the rules on how we should dress, but philosophy is still the time, you can be professional with your own flare. Don't let people dictate to you, who you are. If you're cool and God is cool, what else matters?
8. Give. Make someone better. One act of kindness could spark a revolution, imagine what a lifetime can do. You have the power to change the world. Giving is living. To give is one of the most liberating things I do. I didn't come into the world a giver, that was something I had to be taught. When you start giving, you're no longer bound by this idea that I have hoard everythign I have. You're bound by items and dollars. When you give you get to spread joy to someone who didn't have, and it does something to see a genuine reaction to your mere thought of someone else.
9. Die empty. Don't have regrets. Step out there, do things that aren't safe, but exhilarating. This means stepping out of your comfort zone often. This means listening the little inside, that defies your comfort zone. This means living more than most, but I am ok with that.