In 2018 I put a post out publishing my life vows. It was a beautiful experience of accountability and today I wish to renew these vows, expand on them and invite you to consider your own values.
I have a list that I continuously work on called Value Propositions. These are statements that remind me what it is that brings value to my life. They follow the standard that these values align to the health of the wider system in which I am a part; they cannot solely benefit the 'individual' skin encapsulated me; they are of value to the wider, ecological-me. These are statements that refer to what increases my quality of life, not my standards of living. These are supported by these simple framing questions:
Will this be of service to my own health, wellbeing and flourishing?
Will this be of service to the more-than-human world?
Will this be of service to my human community?
A list I recently found, that I wrote when I was 18-years old, contained my 'life-goals'. Almost all on the list were statements referring to standards of living, not quality of life. Take a moment to consider the difference between these two value guides. What has helped a lot is to also have these framing questions to assist in decision making (do I buy this/take this job/go on this trip/say these words?).
It is empowering, not limiting, to have guiding 'rules' in our lives, yet we are typically tricked into the belief that absolute freedom to do whatever we wish is the ultimate goal (this only appears true if you have forgotten the web in which you sit).
Here are my life vows for 2024.
To eat most of my food from local ecological farms where I have actually visited, and forage to eat highly nutritional local wild foods
To not buy any food or drink from supermarkets
To live as close to zero waste as possible (I will keep my rubbish and photograph it for my upcoming yearlong minimal waste challenge)
To not buy any books online
To live under £12,500
To pay 10% of these earning to socio-ecological progression
To buy only organic, natural-fibre clothing (I am transitioning my wardrobe this way)
Never to fly (except for exceptional circumstances)
To practice tech minimalism
To cycle (and use public transport/ride shares when I cannot cycle)
There are many more details to this and most will come with an exploratory article. You can see my wider mission framing here , with more vows and goals.