Shift work can be brutal, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to a healthy shift. My name is Roger Sutherland, certified nutritionist, veteran law enforcement officer, and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades. Through this podcast, I aim to educate shift workers using evidence-based methods to not only survive the rigors of shift work, but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's show. And welcome back to A Healthy Shift, the podcast for shift workers who want to do more than just survive their career. But we want to really thrive in it, don't we? I'm your host, Roger Sutherland. And today, something a little different. I want to talk about something that completely changed the way I look at myself, my work, and my own personal recovery. And that was identifying my own personal values. Now, this one discovery was a huge light bulb moment for me, and it helped me to understand where so much of my internal conflict and stress came from, especially during my recovery from PTSD. And I'll tell you right now, if you have ever felt torn, frustrated, or confused about why something feels off in your life or your work, or there's conflict in your personal life, this could literally be the missing piece. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of tea, and just have a listen to this one. Now, during my therapy for PTSD, and it's been quite a journey. Six years of psychology, four years of psychiatry. But one of the key exercises, and it took some time to get there, but one of the key exercises that my therapist guided me through was actually identifying my own personal values. The things that really mattered to me, and I'll be honest, I honestly thought, what? And I thought, I already know what they are. I mean, I've been a police officer and I was for four decades. I believed in service, in loyalty, in teamwork, integrity, honesty. Those were the things that I stood for, or at least well, I do. I still stand by those today. But as we unpacked it, I realized that there was a massive difference between what I had as my values and what the organization had gone to. This is a big difference, and this is causes conflict in your own work. And I want you to have a think about this for a second. Think about what you truly value for yourself and how torn you are with the direction of your employer. Because when you think about the direction that your employer's gone in, it means that their values are different to yours. Now, it does not make them wrong. And it doesn't make your values wrong either. What it does is it means that you no longer align. And this is exactly what happened to me. My values no longer aligned with the organization. When I first started, everything aligned. Everything. And it was just a whole different world. But as you age, your values change. And so do the values of the organizations that you're working for. Their values change as well. It's a dynamic environment. It doesn't mean that it does mean that things have changed, but it means that your values have changed as well. For example, I valued honesty and fairness very deeply. But let's be honest, the decisions of the culture around me just literally did not align with that. Things had changed and significantly. That constant clash between what I believed in, what I stood for, and what I was being asked to do, or even what I was being asked to tolerate, it created an internal conflict that I just could not quite put my finger on. And it was causing me untold stress. It causes all sorts of conversations outside of work. And what it does is we end up chewing ourselves up. And that's where the light bulb went off. It wasn't that I'd lost it or I couldn't cope with the job anymore. It was just that my values no longer align with the organizations. And when that happens, your body and your mind know it. Even if you can't put your finger on it or you don't have the words for it yet. Now, once you understand your own personal values, life starts to make so much more sense. I promise you. When you find yourself in conflict, whether it's with a person or your workplace, or even a decision that you have to make, it often comes back to where your values clash. Now, let me give you an example. If one of your core values is family and your job keeps you away from your loved one for days on end, that tension you feel isn't just about you feeling tired or burnt out. It's about your values being stepped on. And this is where conflict comes from. Or if one of your values is respect and you're in an environment where people talk down to you or dismiss your input, that inner frustration isn't you being too sensitive, quote unquote. It's literally your values being violated. And in my situation at work, I valued honesty and open conversations. But apparently that's not what other people valued. And what they value is sniping and bullying and ganging up and all sorts of ridiculous uh situations, and that no longer align with me, and that cause conflict. And this is why identifying your own values is so important because they act as your internal moral compass. They help you to make decisions that actually feel right, and they explain why certain things will upset you and why others bring you peace. Now, I want you to have a really good think about this one. Think about where you have conflict with friends, with family, with your partner, with your loved ones, with your work, with decisions that you have to make. Have a think about where your values lie and the other person's values lie. It does not mean that they're wrong. What it means is your values don't align, and you're trying to fit in what they're doing with your own personal values. So, how do you actually figure out what your personal values are? Well, this is a simple starting point. Think about the times in your life when you felt most fulfilled, when you felt proud, when you felt really satisfied. What were you doing? Who were you with? And what made that moment so meaningful? Then I want you to think about the times that you felt frustrated, that you've been disappointed, that you've been angry, what was happening, who was involved, and what value of yours might very well have been challenged in that particular moment. Write down those words. Write down the words that come up: things like honesty, loyalty, family, growth, kindness, security, freedom, fairness. There's so many. Then start narrowing them down to about five that feel the most you. Don't choose what you think you should value. That is a fatal mistake. Don't think, oh, I should value this or I should value that. Only what truly matters to you. The ones that when you imagine losing them will make you feel uncomfortable. Because those then become your non-negotiables. Those are the things that guide you through every single part of your life, whether it's work, relationships, or even just your own well-being. Now I'm gonna put a link in the show notes to a web page, which is a simple tool that you can use online that will help you to identify your own personal values. You won't, you won't know where to start with this. And I totally understand that. This is something that I educate in my coaching to start off with. I get clients to identify their values and what they value, truly value in their life. And then you can start taking steps in that direction. And this is a tool that we use. Honestly, it's worth taking that 15 minutes to go through it. You will be really surprised at what you find. Okay, we've now got our values. What do we do once we know what they are? Once you've identified your personal values, the next step is to start living by them. Now, this doesn't mean you've got to quit your job or walk away from the people who don't share them. But what it does mean is becoming more aware of when and where conflict shows up. Just ask yourself, does this decision line up with my values? Is this relationship or workplace honoring what values most to me? Am I living in alignment with what I believe, or am I constantly compromising myself? Because when you live in alignment with your values, life just feels so incredibly lighter. You make much clearer choices. There's no conflict internal. And you stop blaming yourself for things that were never about you not being tough enough. They were about misaligned values. Now, for me, this realization was a major turning point in my recovery from PTSD. Trust me, it made such a difference to me. And it will make a difference to you too. Don't get to the bottom of the barrel to have to start working on these exercises. That's what I did. I crashed and burnt bad. And it took me a long time to work my way back. But this exercise here is one that made a significant difference to me. And now when I look at where there is conflict in my life, I look at what that person values and what I value. And that is where the clash comes from. It doesn't mean that you have to untie the boat. What it means is you identify that there is a clash of values here, and you can just identify that, and it helps you to just work through it so much better. It gave me a way to understand why I had struggled so much towards the end, and it allowed me to rebuild my life and a healthy shift because a healthy shift matches my values, and then I identified my business values within this, which is completely different. And I can rattle my my values off the business values. I've got 10 that I've actually identified that I want to be known by in this business. So once I identified those, I just work towards those, and my own personal values, and I work towards those. So if you can take one thing away from this episode today, please let it be this. Just get to know your personal values. Write them down, all five of them, and stick them on the fridge door or on a whiteboard or something where you can see them every day. You might think I've had some really tough clients, like really tough clients, that have thought that this exercise is a total and utter wank. And I can understand that because that's what I thought as well. And then they come back to me weeks later and go, I cannot believe the difference that this makes in my life. Just understanding this and knowing this, it makes such a big difference. They're the foundation for everything. Your peace, your relationships, your purpose, even your health. Because when you know them, you can stop fighting all of those invisible battles inside yourself. It doesn't mean that you have to dispel them, as I said. What it means is you've identified that there is a difference there. And it doesn't make the other person wrong. It just means that you don't align with it. You then start living with clarity. Now, if you want to explore this further, check the show notes because I've included that link to a free online tool that can help you to identify your own personal values. Stop scrolling for 15 minutes and sit down and actually go through this exercise. You'll find it enormously beneficial. Trust me. Identifying your personal values, five of them, and living to those, is life-changing. Make no bones about it. I want to say thanks very much to you for listening to A Healthy Shift today. If you found this episode helpful, can you do me a favor? Share it with a friend, share it with a fellow shift worker, because this stuff really matters in your working life today. I'm Roger Subalin. Take care, stay safe, and keep living a healthy shift. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released. It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on. If you want to know more about me or work with me, you can go to ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.