Values over wants

​There are things I do in life that reflect more of what I want right now than what I value most.

I think about my eating, especially as it pertains to my health. Several years ago, I adopted a plant based diet. The adoption lasted about six months. During that six months, I felt better than I'd felt in years - maybe ever. Health indicators like my blood pressure and cholesterol were as good as they'd been in decades.

I'm no longer on that diet. It's not like I woke up and kicked the diet out of my life one day. Instead, I slowly dismissed it until we were no longer a thing.

Here's the struggle. I still value my health. I still believe eating healthy is a key component of being healthy. AND - I know - not theorize - that plant based eating is personally a healthy choice for me.

So why do I no longer eat that way? It's simple. Most days, when it comes to what I eat, what I want right now wins out over what I value most. My diet contains far more plants than it did prior to adopting and then abandoning the plant based diet, but it's still a long way from eating like my health is something I value most.

Most days this isn't because I want a cheeseburger, it's because I want convenience. (Although, I do REALLY want my ice cream....). But it doesn't really matter what the want is if the want is steering me away from my values.

The thing is, I know there are other areas in my life where I choose what I want over what I value most. I'm pretty sure that's because what we value most requires long term investment and commitment and discipline. It requires waiting on the reward that getting what I want right now doesn't often make me wait on.

And I know I am not always great at waiting on.....

It makes me wonder, when we're interacting with one another, how much are we experiencing each other's true values, and how much are we interacting based on what each other want right now.

I wonder how many relationships we get into because of something we want right now.

I wonder how many jobs we take because of something we want right now.

I wonder how many purchases we make because of something we want right now.

How much of this world revolves around want right now; how much of it revolves around values?

Many days, I get to feeling like we are all in this race to capture all the things we want, only to get to the end of the race and realize we captured few things of value.

Few things that WE value.

If you want to ask a great question, ask yourself - how much does my life look like the life I value most. Not the life I WANT, but the life I value.

If you are really brave, ask that question of someone close to you. Not as an assault, but as someone who cares. Because more than any of us really know, what we're looking for in life is someone to help us live out our values, not someone to help us chase down our wants.

And with that, I think I'll go have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I want a bowl of Frosted Flakes, but for at least this meal - values over wants.