The new year period can often leave us feeling mixed emotions. Eg. Excitement vs Anticipation, Relief vs Trepidation, Hope vs Worry, Energetic vs Overwhelmed.
What’s your New Year’s resolutions?
Urgh, I don’t know about you, but this question is often a source of stress for me. Firstly, to come up with a resolution that I actually may achieve but also the feelings of being ashamed or disheartened when I fail to achieve it and tick that box.
A better option is to embrace the new year differently through living your values.
What are your values? Find a quiet moment to ask yourself:
What is important to you?
What do you want your life to be about?
What sort of person do you want to be?
What sort of relationships do you want to build?
What do you want to channel your time and energy into?
Why values? Values give life meaning and passion. They are never reached, it’s an ongoing process. It’s the direction we desire to keep moving in to find our true north.
They are different to goals and/or resolutions which upon achievement or completion are ticked off and we move on to focussing on achieving the next goal on our list. Goals are helpful, but starting with the ‘why?’ is likely to give you more satisfaction and purpose in the long run.
Connecting with our values gives us a sense that our hard work is worth the effort across different domains of our life: family, parenting, work/career, school/learning, health, relationships, environment, personal growth etc.
How to set your values
Pick a life domain from above (or keep it general), then choose some values from the extensive list (Click button below). Pick your most important values then narrow these down to 3 (eek!) Good luck with that task!
Now it’s time to walk the talk and practice them to live your best 2023 and beyond. Oh, and now, you can also set your goals (if you’re a goals/lists kind of person!)
If you want to learn more about living by your values, google these recommended reputable authors. Their works can be of great help.
Russ Harris (Eg. The Happiness Trap and more)
Brene Brown (Too many good ones to list)
James Clear (Eg. Atomic Habits)
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