Core Values
Core values? What? I know, what does that really mean and what’s that have to do with how I live my daily life? It’s actually pretty simple. Core values are nothing more than what is really important to you. They are the thoughts that come from your head and feelings from your heart that let you know when a decision is right or wrong for you.
Be Decisive Easily
When your values are clear your decisions are easy. When your decisions are easy you make them quickly and that gets you on a straight path to the feelings of happiness and joy you want to feel about your life. Seriously! Giving a couple of hours to yourself to get clear about what your top values are and what’s important to you is a game changer.
Kissing Frogs
Think about it, when you got married or chose a partner, did you have a list of what was important to you before you said, “Let’s do this thing … let’s partner and start a family?” I bet you did. You probably knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life with someone that was kind, loyal, fun, smart, adventurous, or even a serious book worm that would share your love for reading with you. Or some other version of that. You didn’t just say yes to the first person that you met.
You are Worth It
So, why not make a list of top core values for yourself to live by? You are the one person you truly will spend your entire life with, until the last breath.
Now that you are an emptying nest or empty nest mom, it’s the perfect time to revisit or reinvent the list of what’s important to you for living life to the fullest. The life you really WANT.
Not the one where you are expected to spend hours on cleaning house, cooking meals and Ubering kids all over kingdom come.
Opportunity
The empty nest is a season full of spare time for opportunities to find yourself again. What’s important to you now may be completely different than what was important to you 20 years ago. You have more life experience and knowledge under your belt that makes a huge difference in the way you view your world. One obvious world view changer is the fact that you added kids to your life. Nothing about life is the same or ever will be after adding kids to the mix.
Getting clear about what you value or what’s important gives you the opportunity to do a check in on whether or not you are “walking your talk” and living your truth. It’s also an opportunity to become more adept at not only understanding your own emotions that stem from your values but also being able to find joy in the relationships that you will have with your adult kids as you will be able to identify their core values. This will be so helpful as you continue to guide them through adulthood.
Just Do It
Allow me to suggest a quick three-step way to get started on figuring this out. Grab a cup of coffee or tea or whatever is your favorite relaxing time beverage, a pen, and paper. Then give yourself an hour to knock this out.
Step 1. List out five values you had before you had a family to raise.
Step 2. List out what your top five values were when you were raising a family.
Step 3. Create a list of the five values you want to have going forward.
Be sure to rank them from one to five, one being the MOST important value. Yes, our values do change or take a different order of importance in different seasons of life.
Daily Reminder
Now that you have clearly identified what your top five values are for your best life, keep that list in daily eyesight. Every time you need to make a decision, check your list. If your decision honors your top values then it’s a yes. If your list of what’s important for you can’t be honored by agreeing to this then you know for certain why it’s a dealbreaker. Knowing for certain allows you to make your decision quickly and confidently.
From then on, you just keep making decisions that honor what’s truly important to you because each one maintains your personal alignment with your heart and head. That’s a secret to finding yourself excited to wake up and get out of bed every morning.
If you want guidance on the journey to discovering your true self and direction I’m here for you. Set up a time for a complimentary chat, https://HeyMissEllie.as.me and let’s find the joy in life you want and deserve.