Last week I attended an impromptu team planning with my co-workers at an offsite location, a private airport conference center that houses our corporate jet. The first activity was to share our core values with one another.

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I had the choice before me to play it safe or tell the truth. I swallowed hard and chose to tell my story.

 

My core values:

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Beauty

I was raised in a Christian cult where I was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually abused from the age of two. I stopped talking at age six. Beauty is my number one core value because it became my lifeline. I could see beauty in the clouds, a blue sky, paint pictures in my mind, and no matter how hard it was, I chose to find something of beauty in order to survive. No one could take that from me.

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Freedom

At one point, I was contacted by an outreach of the religious organization that was finding and offering intervention to all the now adults as to how as children we were treated. They were finding that most of the children had committed suicide, or had become drug addicts or alcoholics. I was one of the few that had found the road of recovery. Freedom is supremely important to me today. Freedom to make choices, freedom to be who I am created to be.

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Order

I remember watching newscasters on television and wonder how could they put sentence after sentence together of thoughts in an orderly flow. I had completely lost the ability to communicate with words. Order is a saving grace for me today, a way to separate myself from the chaos and stress of my childhood. In recovery, I began to talk. At two years, I was asked to be the speaker and share my story. I still look back at that event as a benchmark of my hardest accomplishments.

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Truth

Having such a past, I cannot abide lies or deception. I love truth.

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Spiritual Growth

To me, my recovery began with following a spiritual program. I do not understand those who do not embrace a spiritual life. They are missing out on knowing God and having a relationship with Him. For me, spiritual growth is an absolute necessity in my life, and is my bottom line.

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Service

After I finished sharing my core values, I listened as each of my coworkers shared their core values and explained their importance. All had a common value which I now add as my value also, Service. My life experiences, good and bad, can be of help to those who suffer. With gratitude to all who helped me, I stand in service.

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