Protect Your Peace

I heard a great interview the other day with former NFL player turned Life Coach Trent Shelton. The two main take aways were: protect your peace and start now.

Most people are waiting for some big moment before they finally commit to changing their lives for the better. Currently, it's the New Year. We've all been guilty of promising ourselves we'll do better when January 1st rolls around.

"If you need a new year to actually get excited about your life then there's a problem. All you need is a new moment." Trent Shelton

Gotta love a guy who gets right to the point. Even if it stings a little. Making a change today puts me almost a month closer to my goal than waiting until New Year's Day. More to the point, it helps me overcome the whole "it's the Holidays" mentality, which is just justification for eating, drinking, and spending as much as possible.

The other piece of advice I loved was "protect your peace." For Shelton that means filling himself up —body, mind, spirit—before meeting the world. He protects and prioritizes those disciplines everyday, putting them before everything and everyone else.

I protect my peace in three ways: spending time with the Lord and in the Word, running, and writing. Those are the things that fill me up and bring me joy. If I don't knock them out before the rest of the to do list, they won't happen.

"My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" Jesus (John 14:27).