How your Core Values can guide you
TL;DR
Naming your core values can be incredibly supportive in identifying the what, how, and why of this quest to grow more fully into yourself.
They can inform what you choose to commit to growing toward, how you want to do that growing, and then energize you along the way, reminding you why you're putting all this work in.
Happy New Year, you!
For our first WOW of 2024, I'm going to hand things off to our head coach, Liza Dickinson, who has some insightful thoughts about Core Values and how they can guide and support you throughout the year.
Take it away, Liza!
Happy New Year, wonderful Capes community! I sincerely hope you were able to find some time to rest and reconnect with yourself over the holidays and are emerging into 2024 feeling grounded and energized.
But, I know it is just as easy for December to fly by in a haze of (over) commitments, funky family dynamics, overspending, overindulging, etc and to instead find yourself at the start of January feeling disconnected, foggy, disoriented, and anxious about The New Year.
Because there can be an enormous amount of pressure in this season to become a PERFECT NEW YOU.
Fffffffffff...orget that. You are whole and enough exactly as you are. (And if you're swimming in this anxiety, I invite you first to take a breath, take a walk, and take some of the pressure off.)
HOWEVER, if there are things that feel out of place, if there are things you know would feel GOOD to change, now is as good a time as any. Not to mention that you have the benefit of knowing you have a bunch of other people around the world, trying to become a little bit more of the people they want to be.
This decision to make some changes and do some growing can open up its own can of worms, however, because the what, how, and why of the whole process is tricky.
What goal do I actually want to work toward (rather than feel like I should)? How the heck do I want to go about working toward it in a way that works for me?? And what in heaven's name can I do to get over the doldrums I will certainly run into in a day/week/month, when the initial fun and excitement of setting this shiny new goal has entirely worn off and it just feels like a SLOG?!
Well, it just so happens that there's a tool that can help you along every step of the way. They're called your Core Values.
Your core values are, well, what you value most. They are the elements of life that are the most central and important to you. When you live in ways that honor them, it can lead to a sense of grounded alignment. And conversely, when they aren't honored, or are contradicted, it can lead to anything from that itchy-sweater "something isn't quite right" dissatisfaction all the way to full on malaise/"what am I doing with my life?!?" crisis.
And it just so happens that the ability to name and reference those core values can be incredibly supportive in identifying the what, how, and why of this quest to grow more fully into yourself. They can inform what you choose to commit to growing toward, how you want to do that growing, and then energize you along the way, reminding you why you're putting all this work in.
For example, the knowledge that civic engagement is a core value can lead to setting the intention of writing letters to your reps every week. As a way of supporting this new habit, your core values of connection and fun may lead you to organize a few friends over for weekly letter writing gatherings.
And finally, for that moment a few months down the road, on that dark, dreary afternoon when everything feels HARD and you don't want to go buy stamps and "What good are these letters going to do anyway?!?"...reminding yourself of the importance of civic engagement, connection, and fun can help you get up and head to the post office.