Week 2 SYL Challenge: Define Your Values

Ok, so I have managed to procrastinate for 2 weeks about the Week 2 challenge to define my values but the time has come! Finding a moment of reflective solo time amid our busy blended family life was also a challenge over the last few weeks, but that is another blog! 


Making a list of my values was not the difficult part of this challenge. Narrowing down my list of values to five core ones, and prioritise these was the biggest stumbling block. I kept chopping and changing the order and found myself questioning why I placed one value ahead of the other or why I omitted it from my 5 final values.


My first list of values in no particular looked like this:
Respect
Honesty 
Authenticity
Happiness
Health
Love
Kindness
Self Development
Creativity
Family
Resilience
Connectedness
Fairness


So without too much explaining why, or I will never get through this challenge, here goes with my 5 core values........


1. Love


Loving myself, loving my family and friends, showing love in my actions towards others, and being loved. Without getting cheesy and philosophical, I believe love is the biggie. From loving others and being loved comes compassion, happiness, fun, positivity, motivation, kindness, selflessness, change, feedback, forgiveness.......my list would go on. 


2. Connectedness


I am a person who is uplifted and energised by my connectedness with others, particularly with family and friends. There are times when I crave solo time and enjoy my own company for a while however for the most part I feel more happier, more creative and energetic around others. 


3. Fairness


This was the value that jumped out at me when I began this challenge. Fairness is huge for me. I detest unfairness, injustice and disloyalty and will advocate till it hurts if I feel I or others (especially those who have trouble defending themselves) have been mistreated by dishonest and untrustworthy people.  I should pop the word selfish under here just for good measure because selfish people often treat others unfairly.


4. Kindness


For me, kindness encompasses acceptance, care, sincerity, generosity and authenticity. My mother taught me all I know about kindness, she lives it in everything she does. I try to show kindness and care to everyone I come in contact with, sometimes to my own detriment, and sometimes I don't do it as well as I could, but I would definitely consider kindness as a 'building block' in my life. There should be more random acts of kindness and generosity in the world and thanks to a gentle reminder from a friend, I am going to try and do more of this and paying it forward because it feels sooooo good.


5. Self Development


Self development is important to me and I feel like I have neglected this value a little. This is partly why I am doing the SYL challenge and writing again. I need to reclaim and invest a little more time in my personal growth, learning and creating and I am already feeling the benefits!


Mission Statement here I come.....


I hope Week 4's challenge is something like re-organising my linen cupboard or similar!