Psychotherapy, counseling, and coaching are not always about working with anxiety, depression, and the labels of other mental health issues.

My work week is filled with helping people make decisions – we explore a lot of questions in my office (and on Zoom now).

Questions like:

• Should we end this marriage or put in the the work to make it better?
• Do I leave the family business to the kids, or should I sell it and just pass on the money?
• Will I be able to stop drinking on my own, or should I go into treatment again?
• How do I cope with being out of work, should I look for a job now, or wait a while?
• Do we cut ties with unhealthy family members, or try to encourage them to make healthier decisions?
• Are our differences that insurmountable, or can we learn to be more accepting of each other?
• Should I put myself out there with a new creative endeavor, or stay ‘safe’ where I am?

Nearly seventy-five years ago, Viktor Frankl told us to choose “meaning” – that which is most meaningful.  He writes that in each moment of decision we are confronted with a unique and brief opportunity to choose meaning.  But that each time we let that decision pass, it is gone, and we cannot go back to it again.  Perhaps we will face the same question again, but the variability of the moment is always changing.

Just a few years ago, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson wrote something similar in 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – do that which is meaningful, not that which is expedient.  There are countless other messages suggesting related concepts that lead to meaningful choices – health, responsibility, creativity, experience, motivation, frugality, growth, relationship, connection, recovery, amends, optimism, spirituality…  I am sure there are countless others.

One of my favorite illustrations of this idea – you may have seen it hanging in my office – is from Seth Godin’s Linchpin – Are You Indispensable.  In it, he writes, “Life is too short not to do something that matters.  Linchpin.”  The whole book revolves around defining that word in actions, and meaningful living.

So if you are struggling with an important decision, or simply facing the smaller daily decisions in life – choose meaningfully.

Of course, if you need help with that more than a simple blog post, I’ve got a few ideas.  I made a meaningful decision, a series of choices actually, a few weeks ago to finally put my work “out there” in a different way – in what I hope will be bigger and more meaningful ways – I started a podcast.  The first 6 episodes are ready and out there on Spotify, Google, Apple, Stitcher, and all the other podcast places, as well as here on my website.  I would be delighted if you took a listen and let me know what you thought.  Just search for The Meaning Project Podcast wherever you normally listen.

Hugh MacLeod’s interpretation of “Linchpin” hanging live at Meaning Project HQ