“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
― Abraham Lincoln

 Let’s shift from unmoored to anchored.

For the past month I have been exploring the state of feeling unmoored, of discovering your foundations have eroded, of living with anomie. I have a sense that anomie lies at the heart of so much of our personal and societal discontent. If you need to catch up on my previous posts, please see my blog on the Destinyworks website.

Thank you to all who have commented on social media, replied to my email or just reached out to tell me what these posts are meaning to them. Keep it coming! Your perspective helps me shape my further musings. And…just a reminder…what I do through Destinyworks…coaching, workshops, and speaking are all geared to helping people and their organizations, among other things, find solutions to anomie.

So, again, let’s begin to focus on solutions. How do we move from feeling unmoored to feeling anchored?

I see three prime ways to restore the foundations of your life. Three anchors. Three solutions to anomie.

1. I will be anchored as I do the hard work of determining my core values.
2. I will be anchored as I identify my tribe, the community that loves and believes in me.
3. I will be anchored as I clarify my purpose in life, the calling that moves me from acquisition to contribution.

Note the verbs in each of those sentences – “determine,” “identify” and “clarify.” All three imply a certain level of work necessary to overcoming anomie. Getting re-anchored will not just happen to you serendipitously. You don’t restore the foundation of your life by waiting around for a miracle. You gotta work at it…mostly by thinking deeply and investigating.

For some, it will take the assistance of a caring friend, therapist or coach. For all, it will take intentionality. Though it is hard work, it is not complicated. Over the next 4 weeks or so (maybe longer) I will break down each of those anchors into bit sized portions and outlines that can act as a guide to your foundation restoration.

Next week we’ll begin by examining our core values – the principles, ideas, beliefs, and morals that animate us and shape our behaviors. We’ll explore what we believe about God and faith. We’ll consider what we believe about human beings. We’ll examine what we believe about life. And we’ll investigate what we believe about ourselves.

As always, I am very interested in what you think about this. Do you resonate with the feelings? Do you have questions? Is there anything you think I should cover further? I love crowd-sourcing my research. So, reach out! I read and respond to every email or blog comment I get!

For now…may you begin to feel more steady…more sure…and more hopeful!