What Do You Care About Anyway--What Do You Value

Your values and what you care about the most are what guide you to make decisions in your life.  However, we human beings make decisions in the moment, based on what is directly in front of us.  Reduce friction.  Go with what's easy.  The problem with that approach is that we risk missing out on big picture wins that result from consistent effort, over time that actually align with our values, thereby bringing more fulfillment to our lives.

Let's consider self preservation for a moment.  Preserve your livelihood, your health, your weight, your sanity, your ability to maintain your composure without overreacting, your relationships....  Pick any one of these things.  These are big picture wins that involve lots of little actions every day.  I am thinking of my sanity and how important it is to me that I don't let little things get me down.  That might present in a variety of ways--including what time I wake up in the morning to what news I choose to ingest to what conversations I get involved in with my family.  So I choose lots of small actions in the moment, to reap the reward of less stress and more sanity as I go along.  The theme music from Frozen is coming to mind--let it go... let it go...

The reason this is so important is that when we consider what's important we can simplify our lives and reduce stress.  Especially now that the pandemic has taken its toll and current events have shocked us to our very core--our nervous system is in OVERDRIVE.  This is so unhealthy in so many ways.  We all care about our health--mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.  

This week, I encourage you to reflect on what you value most.  Get down to specifics.  Look at the big picture--and then walk that vision back to what it looks like on a daily basis.  If you value your fitness, then doing physical activity on a regular basis is part of that vision.  Committing to a routine at a set time and place is what the "little action" looks like so that you get the reward of increased fitness.  

In these crazy times, this is something we can control, and so this is something that can improve no matter what kind of craziness takes place elsewhere.  That alone is a powerful vision.