Aligning to Our Values
Our values as individuals, a couple, and as parents have always been the same. At any point in our married life together, anyone could have asked us our values and the answer would not have changed. And to this day, our answer is still unchanged.
What happened when Brandon started working with a life coach is that we examined whether or not our actions were in alignment with our values. And BAM! Like that, some light bulbs turned on and we were ready for some major transformations.
See, we knew we valued our faith, our family, and traveling. But when we looked at how we spent both our time and our money, those things were not at the top of the list. No wonder we were stressed and feeling burnt out. We were spending all of our time working for money that didn’t go towards the things we cared most about.
Once we noticed this misalignment, we got to work. We looked closely at how we were spending our money and how it could be better spent on things we most enjoy. This led us to consistent budgeting and us committing to digging our way out of debt. This also led us to not spending money on things that didn’t match our list of values such as some of the kids’ extra-curricular activities. Next, we started to look at how we were spending our time. From morning until night we were working, shuttling kids, going to events, and tending to various commitments. Most of the things on our schedules did not match up to what we listed as our values. This led us to stripping away things that were simply taking up our time.
We will be honest, this was not easy work, but it by far has been some of the most important. We still have to be aware of things creeping onto our schedules, and we have to be consistent in what makes the to-do list and what does not. There is still some work involved, but we are clear on what matters to us. Living a life aligned to our values is unlike anything we have ever experienced.
As professional life coaches, we are excited to now engage in this same type of work with our clients. We love being able to empower others with the tools and strategies they can use to define their own values and to live a life aligned to those values. We are telling you, it’s a beautiful thing!
