Why did I get so cross about that? Why did that fill me with so much joy? A revelation!

World values day is an annual dedicated campaign to increase the awareness and practise of values around the world. I first learned about values (in a genuine meaningful way) when I joined Team Boo and Helen helped me to work out what my values were using our values cards – you can buy some for yourself here https://www.boo-consulting.com/product/boo-values-cards/

This started a bit of a journey for me, one which I’m very much still on, but I’m now on a mission to live a life according to my values. A friend of mine often says the phrase…

live a life you don’t want to vacation from

and I think that is exactly what living your values is…building your life around your values so that you don’t need to escape it.

I started reflecting on my values within our session where Helen helped me to consider what my values meant for me, and how they show up in my life. I’d never really considered this before- I figured I’d just been frustrated or enjoyed things because of the situation/people/context, I’d never considered that my emotions, thoughts, memories and reflections around certain events and situations were actually driven by my values; either because my values were challenged or were being met.

When I think back to one of my early jobs, a number of my values were not being met and one or two were actually being questioned just by being there and actually, its no coincidence that I found it hard to get out of bed and go into the office every morning.

I’ve noticed on starting my journey to understand my values that subconsciously I’ve been choosing to work in places that align to my values a bit more with each new role I’ve taken. I naively used to think that organisational values were those words you just had to know about and remember what they were in case someone asked you, but I realise now that the people who formed them really were capturing the essence of the company and the culture of what its like to work there.

So, a piece of advice, if you’re looking at a new job, check the company values to see if they align with your own! I now know it is unlikely that I will ever work in a place with values of relentless, competitive, power and fame.

Another thing I have learned about values is how much they relate to our satisfaction with self-care. This is actually only something I learned this morning (I told you my journey was still ongoing!). Working at Boo, it is an expectation that I practise what I preach and look after my own wellbeing. I have been doing just this- practising different types of self-care, and some definitely have more of an impact than others.

I had a light bulb moment this morning when I watched a webinar discussing the link between values and self-care. Over the summer, I had two weeks off work where I spent them hiking, camping, wild swimming and living out of a campervan. I felt so energised whilst away and felt better than I had in months. When I returned, I came back to my more usual methods of self-care- like mindfulness and reading and going to the gym, but I never quite felt as well as I did over that time. I realised this morning that was because I was no longer meeting my “adventurous” value. That’s what adventure means to me. One thing I’m going to do for world values day is to consider how I can bring more adventure into my regular self-care practise, instead of leaving that to annual leave.

How are you going to reflect on your values for world values day?

Love,

Patti xx