Welcome 2026
Choosing peace and sustainable growth
Embracing the natural anxiety of change to pursue values.
Does your life ever feel like one task after another? Mine sure does! Not always in a burdensome way, sometimes just so full of all the things to keep a household/lives going. With work, a toddler, household, and all the normal life activities, there is always something I could and maybe ‘ought to’ be doing. As one year comes to a close and a new one begins, I have been reflecting on how to embrace the change that is ever happening, prioritize contentment, and continue to build the life “of my dreams”, while still doing all of the practical things of modern America.
In the mental health world, we might call this values clarification or exploration. This can be a meaningful tool, especially when we are struggling with which direction to go next. Our values are the characteristics of our best self or best life that we have the freedom throughout our day to move towards or away from. Most modernly trained therapists incorporate some aspect of this into session but if you haven’t heard this concept before you might check out this video exploring values and how they differ from goals we set for ourselves.
Why would anyone move away from their best self? Consider when you’re tired at the end of the day and snapped at your spouse, or could have said “hi” to that person you know but instead looked away or back at your phone despite finding community important. Moving towards our best self is often fraught with its own discomforts. The gift happens when we can see that either path before us brings discomfort, but only one moves us to our best self.
Victor Frankl
“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
Circling back to my dilemma, means sitting with myself and considering what are the actions I’ve taken in the last year, season, weeks that I noticed didn’t align with my values. Can I find those moments and define what/how I might try and be different in those moments? Are there any areas of my life that I’m pulling away from looking at, especially if I had mis-aligned moments? Am I in a place that is ready to embrace the difficulty with that change? If yes, I know what to do the next time. We are also allowed the space to say no or not at this time. For my own purposes, I may write these down to help me see and remember them (mom brain certainly hasn’t helped my memory).
The internet is full of resources with “values lists” to help jog your ideas. An example is included below. If you find yourself so inclined, let yourself take 10 minutes, reflect on the values lists, and contemplate how might you begin to move towards your best self over the next year.
If you are looking for help connecting with or exploring your values, reach out to us, therapists in Midland, Michigan at Wellrooted Counseling. We’re happy to walk with you as you grow in your awareness of internal cues, embracing meaningful discomfort, and building a more meaningful life.
