why feeling lost should be celebrated
A very common phrase people will say, in an attempt to be helpful, is “you must be lost to be found”. The problem with this is that when someone is feeling lost, this phrase gives no context in a helpful way. It’s just something nice to say in order to sound like you you are being helpful. You may have this feeling for things like:
Career
Relationships
Family
Social Life
Dieting Problems
And More…
If so, here is a slight perspective shift for you to better explain the useless phrase people say. Feeling lost simply means you have discovered that you have been blindly following a path. Imagine being a young kid at an amusement park with your parents. You’re looking down watching your step, so excited to get to the next ride, talking to your parents next to you, only to look up and realize your parents are the one’s next to you anymore. HOLY SHIT! What a frightening feeling. Panic sets in as you feverishly look around for them, but they are nowhere to be seen. This may be how you feel with whatever thing you are struggling with.
What can be worse than that? I’ll tell you.
Imagine never looking up and realizing you’re lost! In my opinion, it is far worse to imagine this going on any longer. It may feel good in the moment to avoid this panic, but the longer this goes on, the further you get from your parents. Eventually, you are bound to look up, so if that’s how you are feeling right now, be thankful! Don’t beat yourself up for feeling lost. Don’t beat yourself as if you caused this. You were just watching your step for an extended period of time and realized "What am I doing?”
You currently are in the “looked up and realized” stage, and since it’s happening now, and not later, you have an obligation to be grateful.
Now that you’re aware, how do you feel about the path? Take this time to reflect on if you like the path you’re on. If you are feeling lost in an area of your life, it’s just from new feeling of awareness. Do you need to change paths? Do you simply need to be more present in the path that you are on?
The power in feeling lost is that it created the opportunity to take ownership of your path! It’s the blind, unaware, following of a path that leads to the negative feelings that you can’t explain. Feeling lost just means you now have the choice of creating a new path, or starting to enjoy the current one. Only you can decide which path is right. Just because the current path provides a lot of comfort, doesn’t mean it’s the one. Just because you feeling a little lost on this current path, doesn’t mean it’s not the one.
How can you make a decision on this? I would venture to say that you need to discover your strengths and values. This is something I have not truly embraced in the first 45 years of my life, but am realizing is the key to personal success.
Comment below (or reply to the email if you received that) with your perspective and insight on this topic.
