Living Your Values: A Journey Toward Purpose & Integrity
Discover What Matters Most and Live Accordingly
Your Values, Your Compass
Life is full of choices — big ones like choosing a career path or relationship, and small ones like how you spend your time each day. But how do you know which path to take? How do you make decisions that feel right and build a life you're proud of?
The answer lies in your values — the principles and beliefs that matter most to you. When you're clear about your values and make choices aligned with them, everything changes. You feel more confident, more purposeful, and more authentically yourself.
Living Your Values is an 8-week journey of self-discovery, clarity, and alignment. Through guided reflection, experiential activities, and supportive community, you'll identify what truly matters to you and learn to make decisions that honor those truths. This isn't about becoming someone you're not — it's about becoming more fully who you already are.
Founding Cohort - Join Us in Launching This Program
We're bringing this values discovery program to Douglas County for the first time, and we want you to be part of it from the start.
As a new nonprofit, we're building our inaugural cohort and creating sustainable community programming. When you register, you're not just joining a program — you're helping establish something that will serve young adults in our community for years to come.
What you need to know:
- We need 9 committed participants to launch (ensures quality group dynamics and meaningful exploration)
- Registration is open now; program starts when cohort fills
- Expected timeline: Launch within 4-8 weeks of reaching minimum enrollment
- You'll be contacted to confirm scheduling before we finalize dates
- Founding members receive priority consideration for future cohorts
Current Status: Building our first cohort now
Experiential Self-Discovery
This isn't a philosophical discussion group. It's a hands-on exploration where you'll:
- Experience values in action - Role-play, visualization, and real scenarios
- Create and reflect - Journaling, art, and personal mapping exercises
- Share and learn - Small group discussions and paired activities
- Practice application - Use values to guide real decisions
- Build community - Connect with peers on similar journeys
- Take home tools - Worksheets, frameworks, and action plans
You'll leave with clarity about who you are, what matters most, and how to live accordingly.
Understanding Values
Values are your personal guiding principles — the core beliefs that define what matters most to you and how you want to show up in the world.
Values vs. Goals:
- Goals: What you want to achieve (get a degree, lose weight, make money)
- Values: How you want to live and who you want to be (with integrity, courageously, compassionately)
Values vs. Rules:
- Rules: External "should's" imposed by others
- Values: Internal truths that feel authentic to you
Why Values Matter:
- Guide difficult decisions
- Create lasting confidence
- Increase resilience and motivation
- Reduce anxiety and second-guessing
- Connect actions to deeper purpose
- Build authentic identity
8-Week Curriculum
Introduction to Values as Personal Guiding Principles
Begin your journey by understanding what values are, why they matter, and starting to identify what's most important to you.
Topics Covered:
- Defining values clearly
- Distinguishing values from goals and rules
- How values guide decisions and identity
- The connection between values and wellbeing
Activities:
- Opening warm-up: "What do you admire in people you respect?"
- Values Card Sort: rank values from most to least important
- Group discussion: surprising discoveries and hard choices
- Journaling: "A time I felt proud of myself" (discovering underlying values)
- Introductory video on values
Deepening Personal Values Awareness
Go deeper into discovering your unique values across different areas of life and understanding how you formed them.
Topics Covered:
- How values develop (culture, family, experience, choice)
- Values across different life domains
- Connecting values to identity and story
- Recognizing your authentic truths
Activities:
- Guided visualization: "Your 80th Birthday" — what do people say about you?
- Values inventory worksheet (family, friendship, school, career, faith)
- Paired sharing: tell a story that shows who you really are
- Values collage with pictures and quotes
- Discussion: where do our values come from?
Recognizing Values in Action or Conflict
Learn to notice when you're living in alignment with your values — and when you're not. Understand what misalignment feels like and why it matters.
Topics Covered:
- Recognizing value-aligned actions
- Identifying values conflicts
- Physical sensations of alignment vs. misalignment
- Areas of life feeling "out of sync"
Activities:
- Scenario sorting: identify which align or conflict with values
- Body Compass Activity: where do you feel alignment physically?
- Small group debates on value dilemmas
- Personal reflection: "What areas of my life feel out of sync?"
Barriers to Living Your Values
Explore the obstacles that prevent us from living according to our values — fear, pressure, habits, and expectations — and learn to navigate them.
Topics Covered:
- Common barriers: peer pressure, family expectations, perfectionism, fear
- The cost of compromising values
- Learning from times you've compromised
- Building courage to stay aligned
Activities:
- Group brainstorm: what gets in the way of living your values?
- "Values Under Pressure" role-plays (honesty vs. protecting feelings, etc.)
- Journaling and discussion: times you compromised a value
- Identifying your personal barriers
Organizing and Prioritizing Values
Not all values can be lived fully all the time. Learn to prioritize what matters most in different areas of life and make intentional choices.
Topics Covered:
- Organizing values by life domain
- Identifying non-negotiable values
- Balancing competing values
- Future-oriented values thinking
Activities:
- Life Domain Wheel: top 3 values for relationships, career, health, growth
- Future Mapping: "If I lived fully by my values for a year, what would change?"
- Group share: which values are non-negotiable?
- Creating your values hierarchy
Using Values to Guide Choices
Put values into action by learning to use them as a decision-making framework for real-life dilemmas, from everyday choices to major life decisions.
Topics Covered:
- Values-based decision-making
- Applying values to real dilemmas
- Choosing the harder right over the easier wrong
- Making choices you can be proud of
Activities:
- Values-Based Decision Grid: practice with real dilemmas
- "Two Roads" visualization: value-aligned path vs. avoidant path
- Partner problem-solving using values framework
- Homework: make one decision this week with a clear value in mind
Integrating Values into Daily Life
Connect values to everyday routines, habits, and long-term goals. Understand how living your values affects mental health, confidence, and overall wellbeing.
Topics Covered:
- Values in daily routines and habits
- The link between values and confidence
- How value-alignment affects mental health
- Creating sustainable values-based practices
Activities:
- Creative expression: collage or drawing "A day in my values-aligned life"
- Partner exercise: plan one weekly habit that expresses a core value
- Discussion: values and mental health connection
- Building your values-based routine
Creating a Sustainable Action Plan
Integrate everything you've learned, create your personal values manifesto, and commit to living intentionally beyond this group.
Topics Covered:
- Creating a values manifesto
- Sustainable values-based living
- Accountability and support
- Carrying values forward
Activities:
- Guided journaling: "My Values Manifesto" — personal truth statements
- Group circle: share one value you're committing to live more intentionally
- Closing ritual: passing object (stone or candle), naming values to carry forward
- Reflection on growth and next steps
Weekly Sessions (90 minutes)
Tools for a Purposeful Life
Clarity Know exactly what matters most to you and why, across all areas of life.
Confidence Make decisions with certainty, knowing they align with who you are.
Purpose Connect daily actions to deeper meaning and long-term direction.
Integrity Close the gap between who you want to be and how you actually live.
Resilience Stay grounded in challenges by anchoring to core values.
Authenticity Show up as your real self rather than who others expect you to be.
Decision-Making Framework A practical tool for navigating choices, big and small.
Reduced Anxiety Less second-guessing when you know your choices reflect your values.
This Group is For You If:
- You're ages 17-23
- You feel uncertain about major life decisions
- You're searching for purpose or direction
- You want to live more authentically
- You feel pressure to meet others' expectations
- You're ready to get clear on what matters to you
- You want to make decisions you can be proud of
- You're open to self-reflection and growth
- You're transitioning (high school to college, college to career, etc.)
Perfect for:
- Young adults navigating major life choices
- College students exploring identity and direction
- Those feeling disconnected from purpose
- Anyone wanting to live with more intention
- People seeking clarity and confidence
Investment
An Investment in Clarity and Purpose
-
8-week program: $200 total ($25 per session) Payment plans available. Scholarships offered for those facing financial barriers.
Included:
- 8 weekly 90-minute sessions
- Personal journal
- All worksheets and frameworks
- Creative materials and supplies
- Values card deck
- Action planning tools
- Supportive community
- Certificate of completion
Founding Cohort Schedule
01
Currently Enrolling
Program Details:
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Session Length: 90 minutes
- Location: TBD
- Anticipated Start: April 2026
When you register, we'll:
- Confirm your spot in the founding cohort
- Keep you updated as enrollment progresses
- Survey scheduling preferences once cohort is nearly full
- Confirm final dates 2 weeks before start
Frequently Asked Question
We're committed to launching this program and will actively recruit until we reach our minimum. If enrollment takes longer than expected, we'll keep you informed. You can withdraw your registration at any time before the cohort launches if timing doesn't work for you.
We'll email you regular updates on enrollment progress. Once we're close to our minimum, we'll reach out to confirm scheduling and your continued interest before finalizing dates.
We ask for commitment to help us plan, but we understand circumstances change. You can withdraw before the cohort launches if needed. Once the program starts, consistent attendance helps build on previous weeks' work.
Perfect! That's exactly what this group is for. We'll guide you through discovery activities that help you identify your values.
Absolutely not. This is about discovering YOUR values, not adopting someone else's. We facilitate exploration, not prescription.
Common and valid. We create space to honor where your values come from while also discovering what's authentically true for you.
Values work can intersect with faith for those who have it, but the program itself is secular and inclusive. All belief systems welcome.
You control what you share. Many activities include personal reflection, but sharing aloud is always optional.
That awareness is powerful! We'll work on creating realistic, sustainable changes rather than overwhelming overhauls.
Yes! Values can evolve as you grow. This program teaches you the process of checking in with your values, which you can repeat throughout life.
Light reflection between sessions — journaling, noticing values in action, trying small experiments. Nothing burdensome.
Start Living With Purpose and Integrity
When you're clear about your values and live accordingly, everything changes — your confidence, your clarity, your sense of purpose.