LAVALLE, Marie Dominique R.

2015-06595
Reflection Paper 2, PA 161 HYZ
March 7, 2019
My Top 3 Personal Values

My personal values include (1) Achievement, (2) Happiness, and (3) Family. Choosing
my personal values is one of the most challenging part of being an adult (especially now that I
am on my 20s, I am starting to build my career and establish a name for myself). Personal values
provide criteria in the choices and actions that I am going to take. They are “guidelines” on how
to make the right decisions and how to pick the right actions that will lead to the person I aspire
to become.
In choosing my personal values, I see to it that I don’t leave anything behind in my
journey to “greatness”. Like most people, I have high value for achievement. I believe that
achieving is my main purpose in life. I can’t imagine my life without goals set to achieve. I find
that kind of life as plain, monotonous, and ordinary. There is nothing to look forward to. I am
adventurous. I take risks and make the most out of this life.
Happiness is also part of my top 3 personal values. When I set a goal, I make sure that
my happiness will not be set aside on the process of achieving those goals. By that, I mean I still
get to enjoy the process, I don’t stress myself too much, and I still get to enjoy and have time to
take care of myself. By happiness, I also mean purpose. I like doing things for the purpose of
bringing light to other people. I don’t want my plans to be all about me. I want to include not just
my family but also the disadvantaged groups. The thought of working hard for these people
make me happy. It makes me feel alive and motivated to keep going on.
Finally, my top 1 personal value is the value for family. Without family, I will not have
people to share my achievements and happiness with. Without family, life will be very
uninteresting. My family is part of every plan I have. I also think about them when I make
decisions (especially the big ones which involve my career). I consult my parents in planning my
life. They are also the first people that I talk to when I am in trouble or when I am having a
difficult day. They are literally my life. They are the reason why I am alive and why I try to live
well. I feel very warm when I am with them. I can say whatever I like without fearing
unnecessary judgments.
Moreover, by family, I am not only referring to my relatives, siblings or parents. I also
call my friends (especially those I met when I was in High School) family. They are my most
trusted people outside my bloodline. I get to share not just good times but also my top challenges
to them. Without friends, I will not also have people to share my successes with.
I am very well convinced that what I am doing now reflects the top value I have which is
family. Just recently (up until now, actually), my family has been experiencing problems that
require the expertise of a lawyer. Right now, the whole family (especially my Dad) is in great
difficulty dealing with the mishaps at work. The family needs a lawyer who is very
knowledgeable about the business and technicalities of law. Our family needs someone who can
defend and protect us from people who will take advantage of us. Aside from the title, this is my
main motivation why I am doing my best every day (despite the consistent burn outs and
breakdowns every morning) to get closer to my dream of being a lawyer. I want to be a lawyer to
defend my family. I want to be a lawyer because of my family.
I also think about my family when I decide on personal matters. For example, when I
choose a guy, I ask myself questions like “Will my family love this guy if I choose him?”, “Will
my parents like him?” or “Are the values that this guy possesses in line with my family’s?”. My
actions also reflect the values of my family. When I take a particular action, I ask myself
questions like “Will my sisters get angry when they find out I did this?”, or “Will they be proud
of me when I do this”. Now that I live away from them, I still try to think about them and
consider them in my daily activities. In spending money, I consider my parents’ income, my
sister’s efforts to provide allowance for me, and my whole family’s expenses. Every Sunday, I
think about my mom telling me to go to church whatever happens. So, despite my busy schedule,
I really try to attend mass because that’s our family’s tradition.
From the big things like my goals to the smallest things like spending my daily
allowance, I see to it that my family is part of it. Almost everything I do, every trait I have, all
the values I possess are reflections of how I was raised by my family. To put it simply, I live by
my family’s values and there’s no single day that I don’t think about them. This whole journey is
not all for me – it’s about me and for my whole family.