How Knowing Your Core Values Can Ease the Grip of IBS
Living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can feel like living in a body you can’t fully trust.
One moment, you’re managing fine; the next, you're adjusting your day around symptoms you didn’t choose and can't predict.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone — and you’re not broken.
IBS is a real, physical, functional disorder involving a miscommunication between your gut and brain. And while stressors like excessive pressure, life changes, and illness can amplify symptoms, there’s an often overlooked factor that can help you feel more grounded and in control:
Your core values.
What Are Core Values (and Why Do They Matter for IBS)?
In the simplest terms, core values are the deep emotional drivers that guide your decisions, behaviours, and emotional reactions.
They’re not surface-level preferences like "I like travel" — they are the fundamental feelings and states you strive toward or away from.
Think: freedom, security, connection, growth.
When your life drifts out of alignment with your core values — often because of chronic stress, societal expectations, or survival habits — your sympathetic nervous system stays activated, running in survival mode.
This chronic stress can perpetuate the IBS "threat–chronic stress–symptom" loop.
In other words: When you live disconnected from what truly matters to you, your gut feels it too.
Why IBS Symptoms Get Worse When Values Are Ignored
When we unconsciously chase goals or live patterns that conflict with our true values, Our survival network treats this situation as a threat – a form of internal stressor: the sense that your life isn't aligned with your deeper needs.
This chronic survival response activation this triggers affects the gut in well-documented ways:
Altered motility (too fast = diarrhoea, too slow = constipation)
Increased gut sensitivity (pain, bloating)
Inflammatory changes in gut microbiota
How Reconnecting With Your Values Can Support Gut Healing
When you consciously reconnect with your core values, something powerful happens:
Stress load decreases because you reduce internal conflict
Decisions become easier, reducing worry and anxiety
Resilience strengthens, helping you ride out inevitable IBS flare-ups with less fear
You begin to rebuild trust — not just in your gut, but in yourself.
Three Simple Steps to Start Aligning Your Life with Your Values
1. Identify Your Toward Values and Away-From Values.
Ask yourself:
👉 "What’s truly important to me?" (Toward Values)
👉 "What emotional states do I deeply want to avoid?" (Away-From Values)
2. Prioritise Them.
If you could only have one value fully met, which would it be? Rank them honestly. Your top 3 values act as your internal GPS.
3. Check for Alignment.
Reflect:
👉 Are my daily actions supporting my top values — or violating them?
👉 What small adjustment could bring me closer to living those values today?
Remember: This isn’t about perfection. It’s about direction.
Even small realignments create shifts in how your nervous system — and gut — respond.
Final Thoughts: Healing Is a Return to Who You Are
IBS often hijacks life with unpredictability and fear.
But healing isn’t just about symptom management — it’s about reclaiming your inner compass.
When you live in alignment with your core values, you send your body a powerful message:
"I’m safe. I’m in control. I’m living true to myself."
And your gut, wired to respond to your nervous system’s cues, often begins to settle.
If this resonates with you, it might be worth exploring how values work can become part of your personal gut healing journey.
You don’t have to do this alone.
🌱 If you’re curious about how to start identifying your values and integrating them into your IBS relief plan, feel free to reach out.
Taking back control starts by remembering what truly matters.