Nothing like a flight to get you feeling reflective…

The never ending sunset

23/10/2024

I write this on an evening flight from Brisbane down to Melbourne, literally (but also not geographically I guess) chasing the sunset. The sun was basically set when we took off and 70 odd minutes later it is still setting!

I don’t know if it is the never-ending sunset. Or the fact that I am flying (again, not literally), flying always gets me in the feels. Or the fact that I have been listening to Laura Henshaw’s podcast series ‘Do I want kids?’ (That is a whole other topic!) but I am feeling quite reflective and quite privileged. Bear with me and buckle up whilst I do my best to explain myself here.

How lucky am I to be able to catch a plane and to jet off Interstate. Heading down to celebrate some good friends on their wedding day. I can now acknowledge that I have worked hard to get myself to this position, but I also that I’ve had to make some big choices to get here too.

I learnt early on about working to understand our personal values and the importance of how this really dictates our choices and our life happiness and fulfilment. Granted some of us have different levels of privilege and ‘luck’ thrust upon us. We have different genetic makeup that might enhance our mental health or our internal levels of resilience that plays a role in what choices we feel we can and cannot make. And then we throw in our current cost of living crisis and things can start to sound really hard. I get it, I am not naïve to this.

However, I feel so lucky to have learnt about my own values and to now have these helping to guide my life choices. I mean for the most part, I’m still human and my goodness I can get it wrong! But… I know when I am feeling shit that something is out of alignment (or out of whack as I prefer to say) I know that there is a choice I need to make to get a different outcome. To feel better. To feel un-stuck. To not feel so grumpy. Or my ole favourite, to feel like I don’t need to lock myself inside for (a minimum) 3 weeks so that I don’t have to speak or see anyone. Dramatic much!

I’ve done a lot of reflective work on myself to understand this. And I will continue to learn new things about myself in the years to come, because as I progress through different stages some of my values and priorities might change too.

But what it has taught me is how important it is that everyone spends time reflecting on and understanding their personal values. Why? Because when our behaviours are aligned with our values we feel a sense of fulfilment, of peace, of accomplishment. We feel settled and perhaps an inkling of happiness.

If you’ve not considered it before, I’ve often found that it can be easier to gain an understanding of our values when they are questioned or are conflicted in some way. When someone says something to you that doesn’t sit right, when you feel you have made a questionable decision or ultimately those times in life where things just aren’t feeling great. It’s often that our values are being challenged.

So, speaking of challenges, I challenge you in these times to be brave and reflect on this. Why doesn’t it feel great, or right? What does your mind, body and heart tell you? Why are you feeling challenged on this?

I guarantee you once you have done this, you will learn something about yourself. It might not be able to change your current circumstance that caused this chain of events, but if you choose to you can learn from it and work to change your behaviour moving forward. Again if you choose to, I swear you will feel like you have regained some power of your life and it’s going to feel bloody rad! And maybe tricky too, I aint going to try and sell you some BS here. But I’m confident in the long run, it will be mostly rad.

So, is this a blog post or a journal entry? It’s hard to know and really might be a fine line. But I hope that it provides you with some clarity or at the very least something to think about for yourself. Because for me, this flight has reminded me of the work I have done and the conscious choices I have made, that have ensured I can jet of too my friends’ wedding. And that’s important to me!

You can book a free Meet and Greet call with myself to learn more about your own values and understanding of what’s truly important to you. Let’s get you back in the driver’s seat of your life.

Cassandra.