McEly
We live in the age of brands. Corporate brands, personal brands, political brands. We’re surrounded. A brand is a simple way to distill down the most important ideas and values that you hold to be important and align yourself with those that ultimately feel the same way.
When my wife and I got married, we ended up trying something unorthodox- we combined our last names to create a new last name, rather than her taking mine or hyphenating or any of the other standard things that people do when they get married. It took us some time to legally create a new last name through the California court system. It wasn’t as simple as signing a marriage certificate. When our daughter was born, we were able to give her the new last name, even before it was legal for us. As of April of 2017, all 3 of us officially have the same last name.
The cool thing about having a new last name is that when I Google myself, I’m the only person that comes up. With the creation of a new last name, I saw it as a great opportunity to think about what this new name meant, what made it different from when I was Keith Ely. What did McEly mean?
I’ve come up with a few things that I think our new family name McEly represents, things I think our family embodies and the values we plan to pass down to our children. It’s a family mission statement of sorts:
Love of Learning- If there is one thing that I know my wife and I will pass onto our daughter and future kids, it’s the love of learning. Already I see flourishes of this in my daughter, even though she’s only a year and a half. She has an endless curiosity and is constantly learning new things. This love of learning is vital to constantly reinventing yourself, it’s the fuel that allows you to change your mind, evolve your views, and become a better person. Most people stop learning as soon as they leave formal education. But it’s vital to keep your brain exercising. If you don’t use your mind constantly, it degrades quickly. Anti intellectualism may be at an all time high, but as a family, we will hold this value near and dear to our hearts.
An Emphasis on Being a Global Citizen- It’s not enough to think only of yourself, your family, your country. You must think of yourself as a citizen of the world. While we think and act locally, we realize the implications of our outlook with regards to our role as global citizens. This will become vitally important as the world becomes less and less decentralized and more of the globe becomes accessible to people of all countries.
Calculated Risk Taking- I’ve never been a fan of the business story where someone takes their entire life savings and invests it in a dream and then later talks about how difficult their situation is. I get that we all want to follow our dreams. But it’s important that risk be calculated and smart. Don’t spend your entire life savings to open a business. Don’t get in over your head. Don’t over leverage debt. Be smart with the risk you take- but above all, make sure that you actually take risks, even if they’re small. If everything comes to you in life and you don’t ever go after what you want, you end up with a monotone experience. Failing is okay, as long as you have a landing pad.
Compassion- All situations that can be, should be approached with compassion and dignity. For those that are down and out, fallen upon tough times, we offer sympathy and hugs. Life can be harsh. There is no reason for us to make it unnecessarily harsher.
Responsible, with a touch of wild- It’s important to be responsible. No one benefits from those that can’t take care of their most basic needs and the most basic needs of others. But you gotta be able to let loose too. Inability to let loose, relax, have fun- that’s what leads to stress building and building, with no way to release. Responsible doesn’t have to mean boring.
A Thirst for Adventure- Fear should not get in the way of adventuring. Be excited to try new things. Be ready and willing to see new horizons and set out for them. You only get this life once, makes sense to go explore with it.
Have Fun!- Above all else as a family, we need to be able to have fun. Think about this- the people that you spend most of your time with each day are probably not your friends and loved ones! They’re probably people you work with, or faceless customer service agents on the phone, or merely transactional relationships which are necessary for the day to day functioning of life. That’s why it’s important to surround yourself with fun people, especially the relationships that you actually get to choose.
I think that does it for now. Eventually I’d love for us to establish our own family crest. It makes sense after all- when a new family is formed, it’s not simply one person dissolving into the fold of someone else, it’s a new dynamic that is established and a new identity. I’d love for us all to create that together.
