It has been a while since I wrote a post in this blog.
I have been putting out most of my content on my Instagram feed in the last year, and I am enjoying the platform tremendously. The features of Instagram helped me discover a myriad of ways in creating content that feel good to me. Whether it is a carousel of posts, or a single post, or a reel, every post on Instagram feels like I am directing a mini production that is fun and exciting for me.
I used to find making Instagram posts to be an obligation. It was a chore until I realised that I was making content in a way that was not aligned with what felt right for me. I was following how other people went about making their content. Well, if it worked for them, it should work for me.
This is till I learnt why it wasn’t working for me – simply because I was not doing it MY way. Then it became a process of figuring out ‘what is MY way?’
One of my core values is creativity. I want to feel creativity when making content. I also wanted to feel fun.
It then became clear to me that I wasn’t making content in a way that was honouring what was important to me. I was using standard templates with a fixed colour palette and font style because I was following what other marketing and social media experts teach around building brand recognition.
My way was to create a coherent vibe using different colours, font styles, formats. So standard templates don’t work for me.
I am really having a lot of fun making content now. It is no longer a task that I tick off on my to-list. Rather, it has become a way of self-expression and sharing my message with others.
What did I learn from this?
I learnt about the power of our personal values when we make choices that express these values. Values are the things that are important to us. The power comes from being in alignment with what is important to us.
Alignment brings about ease, flow and satisfaction. Being out of alignment carries with it resistance.
How does one know that they are out of alignment with their personal values?
More often than not, we experience resistance in the form of frustration, unease and ‘stuck-ness’.
Frustration arises when something obstructs us from doing the thing we want to do. The mis-alignment of values creates a perceived obstruction because we are forcing ourselves to do things that are not resonating with us.
To overcome the obstruction, we first look at where we might be out of alignment with our values.
How does one go about living in alignment with their personal values?
Firstly, we have to become aware of our personal values.
We have core values and contextual values. Contextual values are values relating to specific areas of our life. For example, values at work (what is important to us in our job/career/work), values in parenting, values in relationships. Contextual values may change as we journey through different seasons of our life.
Core values cut across all areas of our life, and are less likely to change as we journey through through life.
There is a process for eliciting these values, and this is one of the key pieces of work that I do with my clients in our coaching sessions.
Through the process of elicitation, we create greater awareness of our personal values. We also notice where we might be living out of alignment with these values – be it in our career, our relationships, our finances, our marriage, etc.
The next step is to explore different ways of getting more alignment with those values – taking small steps until we notice the resistance and frustration fall away quietly. With this, our experiences in different aspects of our life become more satisfying and joyful.
What does it take for me to do this work?
Doing this work takes time, courage and self-love.
It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone to try showing up differently and behaving differently.
It takes time to shift our mindsets, belief systems and perspectives so that they align with the values we want to honour.
It is also absolutely necessary to detach from needing to see results in a specific period of time.
If you feel that you might be living out of alignment with your values (the how), or you are curious about your values (the what), and would like to work with a Life Coach to explore this aspect of your life, send me a message to chat.
