As Ghandi once said, “your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” The important values that a person has are characteristics in which that person becomes defined by and everyone should clearly know what their values are and why they have them. Your values are taught to you by different influences that you grew up around and that every person has, their parents, friends, teachers and the society in which they live. A person values are to guide them throughout their life choices. I’ve come to have many values of my own, my most important value is compassion.

Compassion is not the same as empathy, though the concepts are related. While empathy refers more generally to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person, compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. I began to know and feel compassion from a young age when I realized that I enjoy helping people, I enjoy helping with donations, I enjoy helping friends, and family.  Growing older I did as many things as I could to help anyone in need, I didn’t care what I got in return I just enjoyed the thought that someone needed me. I would babysit during the summer for my neighbors and didn’t ask for pay in return knowing they couldn’t afford to have a babysitter, Makayla, my childhood best friend and I would volunteer to sit in the nursery during church, we would also have lemonade stands at the firestation during summer, free of cost.

Beginning high school I was ready to consider my future career possibilities. I wanted to become so many things and make something of myself because a lot of my family members didn’t get to. Many things were considered; an English teacher because I liked writing and enjoyed English, and a dental hygienist because for some odd reason I enjoyed teeth, like when my little brother T.J was losing teeth he would always ask me to pull them, twist them, or just loosen them up and without hesitation I would. But never once did I think of my values while picking this decision. I immediately picked the hygienist because they made a nice salary and the job description sounded awesome. Then as the years passed I became a junior and my mind changed, no longer did I want to do anything with teeth. I felt the need to get a job and begin saving money, I had many options to consider but I wanted them sophisticated and to be able to be on my resume, I canceled out waitress because I couldn’t handle disappointing people with my nervousness.

Putting my values into place and realized that there wasn’t many good jobs available for a seventeen year old. Until I realized that my compassion could go farther if it was put into work, I decided that I wanted to do something in the medical field, where I could help so many people that need it. I took a nursing assistant class during the summer of my junior year and became certified shortly after, I began working at the nursing home in my local town. I’ve been working there and at a local gas station ever since. I’ve enjoyed being pushed farther with my compassion since working at the nursing home, it’s taught me many more values and made them all habits. I enjoy walking into a resident’s room and seeing them smile as they see me, I’ve made it a habit to smile at every resident no matter what, even if they don’t smile back, it’s also became a habit to greet them and ask “How are you doing today?” or “Is there anything I can do to help you?”, therefore my compassion has become a habit.

When our actions and words are aligned with our values, life is good and we feel content, confident and satisfied. But when our behaviors don’t match-up with our values, we soon begin to sense an uneasiness that begins to swell and grow inside of us. Then you must make a conscious attempt to identify which values are the most important and that is needed to keep your anxiety low and your happiness and sense of personal worth and self-awareness high.

Another main value that is important to me is courtesy. If you’ve ever been in the position to hold open a door for an elderly or any person and you don’t, you might not even give it a second thought. But when I walk through a door I consciously tell myself to look around and see if anyone is near me, if not then I continue through the door, but if someone is close behind I prefer to wait a second longer and hold the door open for them. Being courteous has really payed off involving the nursing home and the gas station, every time someone comes into the gas station I always find myself saying “Hello!”, yes I have to, but yes I enjoy it. I enjoying smiling at people and letting them know that I care, even if I don’t know them.

Now that I’m a senior I’m still being taught many values that will become a habit in the future. Although my main two that I talked about, compassion and courtesy are so very important to me, I still have many more values but the main two that I talked about have not only helped me in deciding my future but they are also pointing me in a positive direction that I want my life to be. “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event, it is a habit,” -Aristotle