My Life's Guiding Principles - LOH Contest #251

Hello beautiful ladies of Hive community. Hope y'all are doing great and in sound health condition. It's another opportunity and a privilege to participate in this week's contest, and I'm excited to be part of it. Welcome to my blog.

Thanks to @trucklife-family for this week’s prompt;

What are the top three values that guide your major decisions and which value do you find the most challenging to practice consistently?

As humans we all have some beliefs, values or principles that shape our lives or guide our decision making. These values are who we truly are and product of our actions. These values could also be one's personal choice, group of people or organization.

The top three values that guide my major decisions are; truth, integrity and kindness.

Truth

Growing up my mom instilled this value in me. Till date it has become one of my guiding principles. She'll always tell me to stand on the truth, even if it means standing alone, you'll have few friends when you choose this path. As a child I never truly understood those words until now that I'm older. The world we are in today mostly believes lies. People in quest to belong fake it with lies because that's what they feel people want to hear. And you wonder why our politicians play a fast one on us. I stopped patronizing one of my relations when I found out she sells with false measurements. I told her it is deceitful that I won't shop with her again if she continues with that. Being truthful will attract genuine friends, and earn you respect. To me that's what matters most.

Integrity

Whatever I do I put my integrity in front, knowing fully well that it's the roadmap to earn trust, respect and confidence. Whether in my business dealings, the environment where I live or wherever I find myself, it goes with sincerity of purpose. It takes a very long time to build, it's not something one practices overnight. At times I may be forced to compromise but when the thought of where I'm going springs up, I stand firm. This has really earned me trust even among people whom I barely know. And it in turn boosts my confidence the more to hold dear to it.

Kindness

Practicing kindness is one of the things the world full of toxicity and negativity needs today. People are going through a lot, small acts of kindness rendered to a person can lift their spirit thereby leaving a life long memory. This forms one of the basis of my decision making. I like putting myself in others' shoes, leaving beautiful memories behind in the lives of people I come in contact with. I believe that sometimes, just being there is the most one can do. So as much as possible I try to portray that. Truly I notice that in their feedback, the way it made them feel, it could be a mere phone call, chat or message to inquire about their well-being. We easily get carried away with busy schedules, creating time to check on someone is heartwarming. It leaves a lasting memory.

Among these values, the one I find most challenging to practice consistently is truth. Sometimes one may be cajoled into cutting corners directly or indirectly. Some of the customers in a company where I once worked as a sales rep often want me to inflate the prices of items bought in the invoice so they could syphon money from the owner of the items. When I refuse they report me to the manager, who sees me as one who wants to chase their customers, but I stood my ground. At a point I was threatened to choose between my values or my job. I’m of the belief that, if it's a threat to my principles then it's not for me. You hear statements like; “you're joking with your job when thousands out there are waiting to have it at all cost”. This is quite challenging.

Our values shape us, they're what distincts us from everyone else. They say who we truly are, especially in consistently practicing it.

Thanks immensely for stopping by, see you in my next blog. Until then, bye for now.🙏🙌💚✨