I love this definition for the word ‘standards’ by Collins Dictionary: Those morals, ethics, habits, etc., established by authority, custom, or an individual as acceptable.
When a person refers to standards, they usually refer to the principles of propriety, honesty, and integrity.
When I refer to ‘my standards,’ I usually refer to the principles I try to live by. Honesty, transparency, integrity, high moral ethics of right and wrong, and a place for everything with everything
in its place. However, I also believe that some personal standards are not etched in stone and can be
fluid as a person travels through life. Standards should be regularly evaluated and tested like any other
life purpose and meaning. I can certainly say that the standards I held myself to in my 20s are not the
same standards I hold myself to as I creep up to 50.
By the same token, I also believe that there are standards that are etched in stone (literally) and are
immovable.

Personal Standards to Live By

For me, the Ten Commandments are the top-tier standards that I am called to live by.

I. “You shall have no other gods before me."

II. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth.
beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord, your
God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

III. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name.

The Ten Commandments

IV. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord, your God. On it, you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

V. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

VI. “You shall not murder.

VII. “You shall not commit adultery.

VIII. “You shall not steal.

IX. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

X. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

A tall order and I honestly admit that I have failed to keep all the commandments at various times in my
life; thus, I admit to falling below my own standards.

Personal Standards: Etymology

I want to talk a little about where the idea of standards came from and how it is used in modern
vernacular. I researched and found an online etymology dictionary that gave a pretty concise
historical background on the usage.
In the mid-12th century, a standard was used in the military as a rallying point. It was usually a noticeable
flag or ornate object that was easily recognizable. The word itself is derived from the Frankish to mean
stand hard. The word evolved over time, but in the 15th century, the term king’s standard was the
official royal ordinance that set weights and measures. It was in 1560 that the meaning evolved to “rule,
principal or means of judgment”. This time period coincided with important treaty signings, like the
Treaty of Edinburgh (where French and English military forces were ousted from Scotland) and the
Treaty of Berwick (where peace was established between Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI). This was
also the same time period that the Roman Catholic Church was overthrown and Protestantism was
established as the national religion in Scotland.
In our modern vernacular, we really started seeing the term ‘standards’ first being used in the early
1900s with the establishment of organizations like ISO (International Organization for Standardization).
Note: The organization was originally ISA) in 1921, and ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
existing since 1918 Standardized testing in education started in 1901, according to the National
Education Association. In the early 1980s, during the Reagan era, standards underwent an overhaul where there were more stringent regulations put on standards in education, government, and the financial
industries. Nowadays, everything seems to be standardized.

Personal Standards a Model

The term ‘standard’ seems to warrant authority. In manufacturing, if someone says that the standard
method to accomplish something is such-and-such, there is often little argument since a standard is
meant to be the top elevation that a function can achieve. In religion, we have religious standards that
are the accepted authority for religious belief. There are even cooking standards that are beat into the
heads of culinary newbies. In many ways, we trust standards to be the optimal achievement level for the
various functions of our daily lives.
But why do we consider standards as something important in our daily lives? Are standards even
relevant for today? There is a country song by Aaron Tippin that goes, “You’ve got to stand for
something, or you’ll fall for anything”. The premise behind his song is that if you live a life without
standards, you will be compromising in your decisions. This can have unwanted consequences and
seems like a bad idea.

Personal Standards in Daily Life

I think that standards are important in our daily lives because they are the map by which we make decisions. If you own a store and have a standard of honesty, you won’t be likely to cheat your customers. The people in your life will have confidence in you because they can rely on you if you have the standard of faithfulness. If you have a standard of excellence in your work, your company can trust that your output will be reliable and generally error-free. Standards drive every
decision we make and impact the people we interact with every day.
Standards are absolutely relevant to our lives today. In an age where we see a new scandal hit the news
every day, we have to call back a life of standards to impact our world. But we need to talk about the
difference between low standards and high standards. Low standards can be best described as lower
expectations we put on ourselves. Generally, when we have low standards on something in our lives, it
is because we don’t care about it. We may have lowered standards for everyday items in our lives that

don’t really impact our quality of life. But we have to be careful because our lowered standards and
expectations can creep into the things that do make a significant impact on our lives before we know it.

Personal Standards in Education

High standards are the elevated expectations that we have for the people and things in our lives. We expect our spouse or significant other to meet certain criteria for our happiness. We expect the
appliances we have to operate at max efficiency. We expect our children to put stuff away when they
finished using it. Our standards are an expression of our care. It is the communication of how we value
what is in our lives.
In my life, I believe that my standards and resulting actions are an expression of love for those around me.
Whether that be in my family life, my work, or my leisure, I am constantly expressing the level of
love I have for those around me by the standards I live by. I think of it this way: because I care about
you, I will not lie to you. Because I care about you, I will not steal from you. Because I care about you, I
will not purposely hurt you. And the list goes on. I hold myself to a high standard because I equate
standards to care and I want others to know at all times that I am there if they need me.

Personal Standards Applied

I encourage you to consider the meaning of standards in your life. Part of the Educate Our Self journey is
to challenge our standards and learn why we have them and how they impact our lives. I also encourage
you to evaluate areas of your life where your standards can be improved. I know there are areas in my
life where my standards are not where I want them, and as I grow in personal knowledge, I know these
areas will improve.

See Standards for Lifelong Learning for more insights on this topic.

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My husband went first to have his exam. The exam discovered that he had ruptured blood vessels and calcification on his retina. The eye doctor said that this was most likely diabetic retinopathy. I realized that I knew very little about this disease. I wanted to know more about how to combat it- or at least- what to expect. Because, you know, I kinda like the guy...

What is Diabetic Retinopathy?

As tempting as it is to hop onto "webbernets" to see what Dr. Google says (because who doesn't like a great horror story?), I decided to look at what actual doctors were saying about this disease. First stop? The Mayo Clinic website. There was a great deal of detail on the website, and the links and images were very helpful. As observed in the image above from the Mayo Clinic, a healthy eye does not have burst patterns. Burst patterns are present in diabetic retinopathy. From what I understand, the blood vessels get damaged by excess sugar in the blood. That excess sugar blocks the tiny little blood vessels. This does not allow for enough blood supply. So, when this happens, the body tries to make new blood vessels. The new ones are weak and prone to leakage.

Early-Stage Diabetic Retinopathy

What I discovered was that there are two types of diabetic retinopathy: early and advanced. From what I read, the early stage is where new blood vessels are not yet growing. At this stage, the existing blood vessels are weakening. There are smaller vessels from around the wall of the eye that are protruding and leaking fluid and blood into the retina. According to the Mayo Clinic, too much fluid can build up in the center of the retina, causing macular edema. Sadly, if not treated, macular edema can cause permanent vision loss.

Advanced Stage Diabetic Retinopathy

The advanced stage is where the damaged blood vessels close off and new ones form. These weak blood vessels can leak a jelly-like substance into the center of the eye (the vitreous). The Jelly creates scar tissue that can cause the retina to detach from the back of the eye. This can lead to blindness. Complications of this disease include vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment, glaucoma, and, of course, blindness.

Another thing I learned is that an initial diagnosis is not a terminal diagnosis. There are ways to treat this disease. I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what we could do to stop any progression toward vision loss. The first thing, of course, is to get the diabetes under control. This means changes to the way we eat, exercise, and, in my husband's case, take medication as prescribed. Regularly checking blood pressure and keeping it under control is another important factor in preventing advancing diabetic retinopathy. High blood pressure can exacerbate the issue. Other ways to prevent this include checking blood sugar levels, smoking cessation, monitoring A1C levels, and paying attention to vision changes.

Importance of Change

Outside of the fact that I want my husband to be around for a hot minute, I think it is important for me because I am also dealing with Type II Diabetes. As I continue to age, I realize that it is not going to be as easy as it once was to get this old machine of mine back in tip-top shape. I also know that my husband would benefit from a partner who is willing to join him in the effort of getting these areas of our lives under control and improved. It is the whole idea of accountability. I need to partner with him toward better health because we have so much to look forward to.

It is also important to recognize areas in my life where I can make lifestyle changes because what I think about my lifestyle is important. I can encourage others around me with my high standard of health and long life. Being proud of me and putting in the work to achieve my personal goal. Not of being the next catwalk model, but of being the best version of me that I can be.

Call to Action

Change is hard, but in times like this, when we are informed that we are in dire circumstances or that our lives will be impacted in some way if we don't take appropriate steps, we can find lasting motivation for making new decisions. I am dedicated to joining my husband in support and accountability to achieve the goal of healthy living so we can check off those bucket list items that we are looking forward to.

My goal is to first start a healthy living journal. I am going to track our eating habits, our buying habits, and our fitness habits. As I go along, I want to make this information available to my audience, which may be faced with similar challenges. I am also going to continue to educate myself on how diet affects my body as well as discover fitness routines that are not going to be absolute torture. The other thing is that I am going to work with my husband to find a healthcare provider that supports our goals and can offer reliable information as we go along. It is time to take that first step on the journey to a better us.

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If you think over the last few days, months, or years, how often have you come across an idea or some bit of information that you were only slightly aware of before that point, or you were completely unaware of? This happens to all of us. Our access to technology has opened our lives up to ideas and information unlike ever before in history.
We are challenged to think beyond the local level to think on a global scale. Now, more than ever, we need a resource that helps us to navigate how we process information and grow in personal knowledge.
This is why the Educate Our Self Method was created. The goal of the method is to power personal education.

Flexible Topics of Your Choice

At EOS we don't prescribe specific topics list, so your interest drives your personal education. That opens you up to endless opportunities to learn and it doesn’t stop there. Personal education without a goal is limited and can lead to an unwillingness to continue. The Educate Our Self method moves beyond building a vast range of knowledge that is just personally housed but challenges you to share your knowledge with others.
The Educate Our Self method comprises six parts of a complete personal knowledge journey. These parts include:

• Exposure
• History
• Relevance
• Reference
• Personal Application
• Share

Stage 1: Exposure

The exposure stage is the first step in the EOS method because you need to understand what sparked your interest in a topic to drive education. In the exposure stage, you will investigate your first experience with the topic and what you may already know. When you record your first experience with the topic, be specific e.g. I was in the grocery store, and I saw a jar of pesto on the shelf. I realized I knew nothing about pesto or how to use it. Now your topic can be anything, but this is a simple example of analyzing that first experience with a topic. Your exposure may come from an online search that popped up with something you were previously unaware of. Or it may be a new aspect of something that you already knew. When you record your exposure, you are making a historical record of how your interest was developed.
You also want to record what you may already know about the topic. In our pesto example, you may already know that pesto is used in certain dishes, or you may already know that it is a blended mixture of basil, garlic, and other stuff. This is your opportunity to discover your knowledge base and what sparks your interests. You might ask, what if I don’t know anything about the topic? That is perfectly okay. Record that! In the exposure stage, it is crucial to understand what you know and want to know.
But what if what I think I know is wrong, or I am unsure about it? This is a valuable aspect of the exposure stage. There is nothing wrong about being wrong. It is when we stay stagnant in our wrong-ness that the problem exists. Part of learning is identifying those areas where we have misinformation and correcting that aspect of our understanding. Of course, we cannot change misconceptions we are unaware of.

During the exposure stage, recording what we know will be a resource we can return to that will solidify our new relationship with and understanding of the topic. It will also create confidence in our learning as we are exposed to correct understanding.
Now, depending on your current level of exposure to a topic, you may already have a good understanding of a topic. The EOS method is not limited to new ideas but can be a catalyst for building extensive knowledge of various ideas. If you already have a base-level understanding of a topic, remember that the exposure stage is where you will record what you know and why you want to know more. There are ideas in our life that we are constantly revisiting because our interests keep pointing us in that direction. A subject matter expert has investigated all aspects of an idea or topic and has a well-rounded or complete understanding of that idea or topic. The EOS method will aid you in becoming that subject-matter expert as you build on your interest or understanding.

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