Army Social Work

Life is a voyage at sea, with our sights fixed homeward bound. Surrendering to the wind and the guidance of the stars, we navigate through calm waters and immense storms. And it’s when the storms are the greatest, when we throw away our greatest tool. Our compass. 

Focusing on the path, letting our minds drift to see where it goes.

It’s the silence that gets us every time. 

Success should never be substitute to our values. It’s our values that offer the very thing we aim to achieve. Peace.

Our values, a gift bestowed upon us in our entry to this world, is a moral compass to keepsake into eternity. 

Consider what is it that makes you, you. This authentic self is the you that you strive to be, and experience pain when you lose touch of you. It’s your core, the person you can be if you stop holding yourself back. If you’re not sure who that person is, that’s okay.

Picture yourself standing on a ship at sea, with an anchor dropped. Imaging stripping away all the things that hold you back, imagine slowly raising the anchor as you do so. What is this person without the fears? The baggage from the past? This person is you. The pure character of that is left when there is nothing to get in the way of your authentic self expression. 

Think about your natural motivations, what drives your interests and behaviors? What pushes your sails forward? What about your personality makes you unique? What are your traits?

Are you:

Extravertive or Introvertive?

Quiet or talkative?

Are you creative?

Are you practical?

What sorts of things do you appreciate?

What do you admire?

What are the unique characteristics when all the fears are removed?

These characteristics are likely similar to who you were as a child.

The ambitions you enjoyed as a child, are spiritually connected to the person you saw yourself as. The traits you displayed, are an honest expression of your authentic self, your moral compass pointing north.

It’s in a calm sea, where it’s easiest to use our compass, but it’s best use is in the aftermath of a storm. Where the forces of life pushed us off course, and the crewmembers on our ship tempted us to drop anchor, shift off course, or give up entirely. It happens to all of us. It happens to the best of us.

There is no shame in drifting off course, we are always free to wander, and the great J.R.R. Tolkien coined that not all who wander, are lost. The compass only points us in a direction, which can be reclaimed in the shifting of our sails.

Is it not in the midst of a storm where we learn the most about our ship’s capabilities? 

I’ve given a lot of thought on the things that weigh me down the most. I, like everyone at sea, has dropped my anchor in the midst of a storm, waiting for it to pass instead of taking the necessary initiative to sail out. However, it is in these storms where we learned how much we appreciate calm seas, the supportive members on our ships, and how to keep our compasses due north. 

We may not be proud of the things we have done, but we should NEVER take them back.

We have all experienced regret, trauma, and emotional pain. Are these experiences not that greatest opportunities for growth? Have they not prepared you for the things you have, or are yet to experience? Have they not caused you to reflect on the most important things in life? Have they not activated your internal strengths? The power of values-driven behavior and utilization of the moral compass cannot be emphasized enough. 

Life is a voyage at sea, with our sights fixed homeward bound. Surrendering to the wind and the guidance of the stars, we navigate through calm waters and immense storms. And it’s when the storms are the greatest, when we throw away our greatest tool. Our compass.