This study reflected my teaching journey, the challenges I experienced, the cognitive strife I overcame, and the realisations I made throughout the school year 2021-2022 as a novice values education teacher. With the primary goal of understanding the extent of my experiences, autoethnography was utilised, which revealed four (4) key themes: first, the challenge in reconciling my pluralistic vs. dogmatic views in teaching; second, reconciling my conceptual and pragmatic approaches due to scarcity mindset; third, overcoming pressure in terms of personal reservations, classroom engagement, and protecting one's self-worth; and, lastly, to ensure teaching with empathy moving forward. Through these findings, I contributed to the growing body of autoethnographic studies in the field of education and pedagogy. Similarly, this study offers an opportunity for researchers to improve existing literature pertaining to the experiences of values education teachers and the Philippine values education curriculum.