What do I value?

Values

Our values are the things that we think are important – happiness, friends and family, or feeling loved and respected. Part of being an individual person is being able to make up our mind about what is important to us, what we think is worth more and what is worth less.

Values help us determine what is right or wrong, what we do or don’t like and whether something is important to us or not. Values help to form the attitudes and the goals that we set for ourselves, and guide our actions, behaviours and how we live our lives!

Can our values change?

As we grow and change the priority of our values can change. For example, when we are young, we may value the same things as our parents. As we get older, we may start to be influenced by the things our friends or the media see as important.

Why do we need to know our values?

The values we consider to be the most important in our lives are our personal (or ‘core’) values. They’re broad concepts that can be applied over and over again across a range of situations. Our personal values are a central part of our identity: who we are and who we want to be.

Identifying and understanding our values can be difficult at first but it is an important exercise. The more we understand our values, the more we can use them to guide us in making good choices and take appropriate action in any situation.

There are many types of values, but a simple list might include: