Live Life Your Way
Your values tell you who you are, what you believe, and what you should do with your life. When these are aligned, your life makes sense. Things go well for you, no matter your external circumstances.
You have led a powerful, purposeful life.
Let your core values continue to guide you to a life that brings you joy
no matter how rough the terrain.
Retirement Changes How We Live Our Values
A lot of people get stuck on the question of "what should I do in retirement?" The real question is, "who do I want to be?" Retirement gives us a chance to be differently.
Let Values Be Your Guide
Values are valuable when they guide the decisions you make about your life. They signal that you made the right decision because it feels effortless. If you deny a core value, on the other hand, something just doesn't feel right.
Retirement Joy requires that we examine our values and ask, which ones still work for us? Which ones do I now set aside? What are the ways I want my values to show up in my new life? What choices am I willing to make to make them real?
My client Linda (not her real name) found that after a career teaching and managing programs in higher education, she no longer wanted to carry the weight of being in charge. Getting this clarity helped her decide which of the many work opportunities she would pursue. Now she's enjoying her semi-retirement as a freelance teacher and trainer.
How Stress and Values Collide
What can mess up our values-based life is when two or more values conflict with each other, for example, when our value to serve our family (the grandkids need a ride to school) conflicts with our value to contribute (but that's volunteer time!).
Stress almost always involves a conflict in values, usually accompanied by guilt, resentment, and underneath that, fear. It can trip up the best of retirement plans and undermine our intimate relationships. When I work with clients we don't stop with simply creating a list of values. As clients put values into action they become a powerful tool for living a more purposeful, powerful, and engaged life.
How do values show up in your life? See how getting support and setting action goals are essential for going from listing your values to living by them every day.
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