Something Everyone Should Have

I just celebrated the ten year anniversary of the day that my wife and I met.  I was so different then than I am now and I'm sure my wife would say the same thing about herself.  I'm not going to make a huge list and bore anyone with how we are both different.  That would not be awesome.

What I am going to do is talk about my life philosophy, something everyone should have.  Ten years ago, I didn't have a life philosophy or at least I didn't know what it was.  As I have gotten older, I have learned a lot about myself and slowly started to realize things about life, myself, other people, and the way the world works.  I have developed some rules that I try to live my life by.  I'm sure in ten years I will have replaced some of these rules with new rules, but we only live in the present so this is what matters to me right now.

1)  I Am Only Going To Do Things That I Want To Do

Selfish, huh?  At first glance, yes, but really it's not.  I think I am a good person, and to me, good people like to do things that help others so I don't consider this selfish.  If I do things that I want to do then I am going to be a happier person.  When I am happy I am going to be a better husband, father, and friend.  Those are good things.  If I am stuck doing lots of things that I don't want to do in life then I am going to be miserable.

I firmly believe that positive and happy people attract good things and negative and miserable people attract bad things.  By doing what I want to do I will have a happier life and so will my family.

2)  Don't Worry And Don't Do Too Much Planning

Most things we worry about never happen and most of the things that we plan for the future don't apply in the future.  Yes, we need to make sure that we have an outline for what we want the next year, five years, and ten years to look like, but don't spend too much time on those plans because they could be totally disrupted tomorrow.  Be flexible.

3)  Lead By Example

I haven't always done a good job of this, but I'm trying.  I want to live the life that I want my kids to live.  Sure, I could get rid of my dreams, sacrifice, and work a job I hate just so we can get by and pay the bills, but that's not the kind of example I want to set.  I want to keep dreaming big and going after those dreams.  I'm in the process of finishing my degree at age 30 after ten years out of college.  Hopefully that proves to my kids that no matter what kind of setbacks they have, that it's never too late to go after what they want.

I work out and try to stay healthy even though it keeps me away from home some nights.  That's ok because I want them to know that being healthy should be a priority and that I will be around many more years because I stay healthy.

4)  Live Life With Excitement

Some people would call me immature, but I would disagree.  I just refuse to grow into a boring adult that becomes negative and jaded.  I'm going to be doing new and exciting things until the day that I die.  I hope I die doing something exciting like having sex on my 90th birthday, climbing a mountain, or skydiving.  If I don't do exciting things I might as well be dead anyways, right?  A boring life isn't worth living.

I don't think that any of these values will go away as I age because these are a pretty big part of who I am, but I'm sure I will add to the list.  The important thing isn't what is on the list, but that we have some type of philosophy that we live by, even if we can't put it into words.  Without it, we will just drift through life and before we know it, we will be out of time.