21 Rules for Life!

Today I want to stray away from divorce law and family law topics. Instead I want to make a more personal blog post.

My wife and I recently attended a conference together. It was held outside of Washington D.C. and we both had to fly to the conference. While we were away we left our two young children with my parents in Mississippi.

This was the first time that we had flown together without our children and we wanted to make sure that we left both of them letters telling them how much they both meant to us. We also wanted to leave words of advice for each of them in case we weren’t around to see the grow up and become the teenagers and adults that we know we are going to be proud of one day.

I sat down the day before we left and jotted down a few things that I wanted them to know and rules that I felt were important to live by. I’m looking at that list today and wanted to share some of what I wrote. I feel these things are important for everyone to do or know. I have slightly changed some of them to not be specific to just my children but to be general in nature so that it may apply to everyone.

Here’s my list:

21 Rules for Life and things I want you to know.

• Someone out there thinks of you constantly and loves you with every bit of matter and soul that they are.
• Each of you has someone who will always be there for you.
• Listen to your grandparents. They love you and will do anything for you. They are also a lot smarter than you may realize.
• Believe in yourself – Always!
• Be confident and secure, especially when you don’t think you should be.
• You have a great talent inside you. Whatever it is find it, work on it and develop it to reach its peak. You’ll never regret time spent doing this.
• Be loyal. Always be there for your family and friends no matter what. Be there to support them when they need it and help them when they don’t always want your help.
• Don’t worry about trying to be friends with everyone. Instead surround yourself with people who really care for and support you. These friendships should always be mutual – be wary of people who only take and never give.
• Be a giver!
• Make the right decisions in life. It won’t be easy and you’ll want to take the popular route and the one with least resistance at times. Don’t do it. You NEVER regret doing the right thing. And if you do the right thing you never have to worry.
• If you make a mistake, admit it. Then get busy to correct it!
• Love without reservation.
• Be passionate about your life!
• Travel – Everywhere and as often as you can.
• Don’t follow the crowd. The trails you blaze on your own will lead to a rich life.
• Be humble. Never act like you are better than anyone else.
• Never think that you are not as good as someone else.
• Always have an open attitude, but be firm in your beliefs.
• Be a happy person!
• Be optimistic!
• And finally take advantage of every moment, life changes each second.

These rules are easy to follow when times are great, but even more important to follow when things look their worst. Follow them and you will live a full, rich, and wonderful life – Jami Ferrell