Hey Travel Friends! I just wanted to write a little bit about this idea of living a life that aligns with your values.
Now, I’m sure we’ve all heard this and have maybe even been encouraged to create a life according to our values; it seems like it’s been a hot topic in recent years, particularly after Covid.
As it goes, “No longer our today’s Millennials and Gen Z’ers satisfied with a life led that is not true to themselves” (quoting any random “news” article”!). Notwithstanding the condescending tone of many of these articles, that are likely written/edited by older adults of previous generations, it is true: our generation has put our values, needs, and desires at the forefront of our decisions, and rightfully so!
A Reminder to Align Your Life with Your Values
This article isn’t about rehashing that per se, but mostly to reiterate it. If you’re on this blog and reading this, you might not need to be convinced to live a life that aligns with your values. But it is easy to forget.
Even when we go out there to chase our dreams or simply do what makes us happy, that value creep is always there: meaning even if you manage to escape and begin living life on your terms, those societal expectations don’t disappear. This can be really difficult to ignore, especially if you’re from the United States where those pressures are incredibly forceful.
I guess what I’m trying to do here is simply to remind you to kill all that noise, reflect on what you value, and construct a life around that.
Set Time for Your Values
I was reminded of this myself when listening to one of the more recent podcast episodes of Jason Moore’s Zero to Travel, a personal favorite of mine. (Honestly, go check the Pod out if you haven’t already!).
In the episode, he was speaking about how in Norway, it’s a law for most stores to close on Sundays. The reason, he says, is for people to spend time with their families. So in this way, the government is valuing family time over being a consumer, according to him.
Jason mentions how difficult this was for him when he first moved to Norway, but he started to understand and appreciate it more as he got acclimated to the country. Whether you agree or not with the government’s policy, I thought it was such a great example of a life according to one’s values. In this case it was the government’s and the people of Norway more generally.
I started thinking about my life and whether it currently aligns with my values. I’m happy to say that in some ways, yes it does. I try to carve out time for learning every day: whether that’s reading, researching, learning Italian, etc. Recently, I’ve been fortunate enough to set aside more and more time for this on a daily basis, and it’s contributed to me feeling happier, without a doubt.
I also value being healthy and make sure to get some physical exercise every day.
What do you value? When you reflect on the life you’ve led, does it align with those values?
