Integrity Over Loyalty

I’ve been thinking a lot about the values of loyalty and integrity. They aren’t opposites, but they ask us to orient our actions and allegiances in different ways.

In the current political climate, loyalty has been praised. It’s led to appointments, contracts, and access to power. Loyalty is often praised as a virtue—loyalty to a person, a cause, a company. But what happens when the thing we are loyal to changes? When new information arises? When the values we once thought were upheld no longer align with reality?

Loyalty, when blind, can lead to betrayal—not of others, but of ourselves. It binds us to a fixed image, a rigid belief, a past version of someone (or something) that may no longer be true. When we’re loyal to an idea at the expense of truth, we stop questioning. We ignore the shifting variables. We silence our curiosity. And in doing so, we risk upholding something that no longer deserves our allegiance.

I’ve heard people beginning to questioning loyalty in the past few weeks: by veterans who served our country and then worked for the federal government who were let go without warning; disheartened employees that have given decades to their company and risen through the ranks, then were fired without clear reason or personal regard; and from people who voted out of loyalty to an idea or a person based on campaign promises, and now are questioning why they are getting hurt by policy.

Integrity, on the other hand, is a compass. It’s not about holding fast to an external figure, ideology, or institution. It’s about having an internal beacon that guides us, even when circumstances change. Integrity allows us to ask hard questions. To pivot when needed. To remain rooted in our values while adapting to reality.

Living with integrity means we don’t betray ourselves in the name of loyalty. We honor our ability to reevaluate, to course-correct, to evolve. And that kind of honesty (though it may require difficult choices and hard conversations) is the foundation of true trust, both with ourselves and others.

Loyalty may give you perks and power, but it is limited and it relies on an external force to reward you. Integrity is an internal practice that allows you to make embodied and empowered decisions driven by your own moral compass.

In my practice with clients, we craft personal declarations which are commitments to who they are and how they show up in the world. The commitments are written and spoken in present, active tense and in first person. “I am a commitment to…., for the sake of….”. These statements become organizing principles for the choices we make, the awareness we have, and the practices we engage with.

My own declaration statement is, “I am a commitment to honoring my somatic wisdom for the sake of greater joy, connection, and healing in the world.” This commitment right now informs my sense of integrity and action—what decisions will I make that align with and help me live into this commitment?

The time is coming for all of us to reconsider the concept of loyalty and reconnect with our internal compass of integrity. Not out of loyalty to party, ideology, religion, or class. Out of integrity to ourselves and the commitment to who we are and how we want to show up in the world.

Where have you prioritized loyalty over integrity in your own life? And what shifted when you chose integrity instead?

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