When You Feel Lost in Life, This Is What You Do

First, you stop torturing yourself with the idea that you have to have everything figured out before you begin.

Photo by Morgan Rovang on Unsplash

At one point or another, everyone feels lost.

Everyone fights self-doubt, confusion, misdirection, and weariness. Everyone wonders if they are on the right path or if there is even a right path to begin with, and everyone questions at least once if they should keep going in the direction that makes the most logical sense or venture into the uncertainty of what they would reach for if they believed they had a shot at grabbing it.

Author Brianna Wiest highlights a fundamental truth of being alive: “everything emerges from uncertain nothingness, and forms into a tangible reality in time. Out of nowhere, and out of no way, a path is made. Always.” Despite knowing in the back of our minds that there is always a way through any circumstance, that there is always the hope of tomorrow, we often can’t see how.

It takes one level of emotional maturity to admit to yourself what you want, authentically and truly. It takes another level of maturity to accept you have the responsibility of giving that life a chance or more than one. And it takes yet a higher level of maturity to carry your faith into the wilderness and rely on the inner knowing that you will make it out, maybe not unscathed, but better for having believed in yourself enough to brave it in the first place.

We stand in our own way when we decide that where we are today, and the trajectory our lives are currently taking, is the only reality — the only option. We feel lost often not because we don’t know where our hearts are calling us, but because we feel unworthy of that calling. We think we aren’t up for the challenge, not strong enough to move before we know exactly where we are moving to.

We worry about judgment, not realizing that the worst kind is the one we hold within us. What people say can’t hurt us, not nearly enough to keep us stuck in lives we don’t want, unless what they say confirms something we already believe about ourselves. The most impenetrable armor we can carry throughout life is self-acceptance.