These ‘Rules to live by’ were written by my 17-year-old daughter Issy – not for an audience, but as a guide for herself as she finds her way through these unsettling days.
I’m grateful that she let me read them, and now share them.
Guest post: Issy Mitchell
Rules to live by
18 ways to set structure and sew love into everyday life
Read a book before bed and when you wake up.
Walk every day.
Watch sad films and enjoy the feeling of crying.
You subconsciously know yourself well – pay attention to your gut reactions and worries.
Find something you enjoy and work at it until you are proud of the product.
Put effort into how you love people. Don’t do it passively, do it with purpose and care and pay attention to the things they love.
Learn to give good gifts.
Thoughts are precious and profound, write them down and read what you wrote back to yourself.
Choose to find things funny even when they aren’t (they always are).
Have comfort films, meals and books.
Pay attention to what makes you happy and to what makes you cry.
Say when you are uncomfortable.
Pray in everything you do – your life is a gift from God so learn to walk through life lightly and remain in his presence in everything you do. He gives good advice, is always patient, and always kind.
Take a moment when you are worried or sad and properly understand what is making you feel like that. It is often not what it seems and can be very easy to solve.
Take advice from nature, the best inventions draw on the world around you.
Reflect every day – each one is precious and if we don’t take time to remember them and understand them we will miss things.
Ask God to show you what he thinks of you and the people around you often – it is always love but always interesting and important.
You have never understood maths. Your brain isn’t built for it. NEVER DO STEM AGAIN.
