Find Your Guiding Light: Let Values-AF Lead You Through the Fog
There’s a collective unease in the air right now. You can feel it in therapy sessions, Zoom meetings, and group chats, Slack channels, or shared workspaces. Maybe you’ve even felt it in your own chest—tight, heavy, uncertain. Between political unrest, ongoing waves of layoffs, and policies that threaten the lives and liberties of socially marginalized communities, many people are asking: What now? Why now? Where do I stand? And how do I keep going when everything around me feels like it’s coming undone?
Here’s what we know: when systems are unstable, values show us who we are—and sometimes, where we part ways. In moments of uncertainty, values can unite us in shared purpose, but they can also reveal difficult truths and divisions that require courage to confront.
This is where Values-Aligned Functioning (Values-AF) comes in. And let’s be clear—when we say "fog," we’re not just talking about confusion. We’re naming the forces that cloud our thinking and stall our actions: Fear. Obligation. Guilt. These are the internalized patterns that keep us compliant, disconnected, or silent. Values-AF is what cuts through that fog. It’s not a catchy tagline—it’s a call to bold, principled action. It helps you anchor in clarity when everything external feels unsteady.
So, what does Values-AF look like right now?
It looks like naming harm as it’s happening—even when it’s uncomfortable.
It looks like refusing to dilute your ethics for convenience or approval.
It looks like saying: “This is what I believe. This is what I’ll protect. And this is where I take a stand.”
You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a compass. And that compass is your values.
Start Here: A 3-Point Grounding Practice
1. Reconnect with what you know is true.
What is a value that lights your way through the fog? One that steadies your hands when fear creeps in? Write it down. Hold it close. Let it guide every decision you make—especially when the path isn’t clear.
2. Audit your alignment.
How are your daily actions—personally or professionally—aligned with that guiding value? Where is there a disconnect? And what’s one shift you can make this week to come back into alignment?
3. Name your threshold.
Everyone has a line they won’t cross. In the face of unjust policies, workplace silence, or community harm—what’s your breaking point, and how will you respond when it’s crossed?
Right now, we’re seeing a disturbing trend: the deliberate dismantling of DEI efforts across institutions. Some companies are rolling back equity commitments, cutting DEI roles, or removing inclusive policies under political pressure. Let’s call it what it is—a form of corporate genocide. When access, visibility, and protection for socially marginalized people are stripped away systematically, that harm is structural, and the silence that surrounds it is complicity.
This is where your values come into play. Will you stay quiet to protect your comfort? Or will you be the one who says, "Not on my watch"?
For the Helpers, the Healers, and the Fighters
If you’re a counselor, coach, or consultant, this moment is asking something of you. Not perfection. Not performance. But integrity.
Your clients, your communities, your teams—they’re watching how you move through this. Not because you have all the answers, but because they’re hoping to see someone choose courage over comfort.
Let’s not let fear make our decisions. Let’s lead with what matters most.
This is Values-AF. This is how we build a better us.
Want support in reconnecting with your core values and leading with clarity? Learn more about our Values-Aligned Functioning work at Indigo Path Collective.
