My 7 Rules for Living
During my Dark Period, I was somehow smart enough to sit down and make a list of rules intended to keep me from completely falling off the edge. These came about when I asked myself, "Based on my experience, what are things I can do that always make me feel better about myself?" Two aspects of this were key: 1) "based on my experience," and 2) "made me feel better about myself." I wasn't interested in what others thought would work, only what I knew from experience would work for me; and I wasn't interested in what perked me up for a short period — like listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan cranked up loud — I was interested only in what made me feel better about myself.
I thought about it, made a list, and turned that list into what I called my "Rules for Living." I wrote that list on a 3"x 5" card and carried it in my back pocket for about four years. Oh, and I tried very hard to put it into practice, to varying degrees of success.
The list is very simple — nothing you haven't seen before. But like so many bits of advice, these are easy to look at and say, "Of course, that's so obvious...," than to actually do. But they were well worth the effort. I give them to you here because I realize that not only can they help keep you from dropping off the world, but they are a pretty good way to make a normal life better.
Here are my seven rules, with some comments:
- You can forgive anything — and you must. This is the hardest one on the list. You must not only forgive those who have harmed you, but more importantly, you must learn to forgive yourself.
- Take care of your appearance. Bathe, shave, wear clean clothes each day. When you're down, it's easy to lose respect for all aspects of yourself. Dressing in sweats and t-shirts won't make you feel better, and it won't encourage people to treat you better, either. Dress like you have respect for yourself. It sounds superficial, but it works.
- Stay social. Many of us isolate ourselves when we're down, but isolation only makes things worse. Get out and see all those people who like you.
- Remember others. Volunteer. There is someone somewhere who needs what you have to offer. You may not believe it, but you have a lot to offer.
- Stay fit. Not only will you be healthier and more energetic, you'll feel much better about yourself.
- Eat well. I don't mean Coq au vin with a nice Pouilly-Fuissé. I mean... well, you know what I mean.
- Stay spiritual. You get to define this any way you see fit. My thoughts are irrelavant here. Only yours count.
As you see, the list provides only general guidelines, so each day I would set specific tasks related to each item. For example, three days a week I went to the gym, three days I ran in my neighborhood, and some days I did specific forgiveness exercises. (Workouts of all kinds, I guess.) Anyway, it helped me through some tough years, and it helped through some good years. Maybe it'll work for you.
Make a great day.
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Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 1:00 am under