“You have to be careful what you anchor your emotions to.”
I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago when those words came out of my mouth. She looked at me and said, “That’s a blog post!”
And I’ve been mulling what I said ever since then — about how I need to be careful what I anchor my emotions to.
Our emotions — whether we’re feeling happy or sad or secure or panicky or bewildered or thankful — are affected by things like our circumstances or our relationships with others or how exhausted we are. As my friend Wise Guy says: Fatigue makes cowards of us all. I reminded myself of that truth today as I crawled into bed for a nap — and a short cry. Life’s been more than busy and some big changes are coming up. I needed both the nap and a few moments to shed a few tears.
If I’m not careful, I can tend to anchor my emotions to two things: circumstances and other people’s opinions of me.
Both are lousy choices for anchors.
Circumstances come and go. And people’s opinions? There’s no way I can do enough, be enough, to keep everyone happy — to live up to everyone’s expectations for me.
A more trustworthy anchor is God’s truth — who He says I am and who He says He will be in my life. I may not always understand God’s ways in my life, but I can say this: God has never failed me. He has never rejected me. His love is unconditional.
In Your Words: Whether we realize it or not, we all choose anchors to hold us steady when life tosses us around. What’s your anchor?
In Others' Words: Life Anchors http://bit.ly/2KqA4cG #perspective #quotes Click To Tweet 'Have an anchor so that life doesn't toss you around.' quote by Debby Ryan http://bit.ly/2KqA4cG #anchors #perspective Click To Tweet
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Comments 6
Learn to swim, because when the anchor fails and the tiller snaps, your arms and heart are all you’ve got.
Author
Hi, Andrew: Thanks for starting off our conversation, as you so often do. 🙂 And for making me smile with your “when all else fails” perspective on life.
Beth, even when I’m way tired and almost too sick to care, I try to stay up for your newest post as Tuesday and Thursday begin. Can’t wait to see what you have to say!
Author
Thank you, Andrew! 🙂
I don’t know what happened to yesterday, it got swallowed up whole w/ no pieces left over. The 2 college classes I was to teach this summer both fell through BUT campus moved mountains to get me approved in my stronger English major and now for the first time I’m teaching English for this univ., along w/ History, Geography, Anthropology–Comp. & Editing, for them starting May 29th. I’m glad about that and about how the people involved went to bat for me to do some hard work very fast. Emotions–the word motion is in there. They are often in flux, like an ocean cruise–some days calm seas–others w/ white caps and furniture sliding around, but eventually we cross the water and reach shore. You’re allowed naps, a few tears if necessary, but no headaches 🙂
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Author
Thank you for taking the time from your even-more-busy schedule to join the conversation. I’m excited for your new opportunities to teach on your beautiful campus — and the fact that I’ve been there now! 🙂