Being lost is a bad thing, right?
As kids, once of the worst feelings ever is being lost.
When we are young, we step away from our parents for just a second.
Our world comes crashing down as we yell, “MOM!” and every one stares at us.
Relief only comes when our mother comes rushing to us.
Both of you with smiles and tears.
In our teenage years, we struggle too.
We are trying to figure out where we fit in and who will like us.
The sense of belonging and an identity is important for everyone.
Even as we get older…
We tend to stay in one place.
It’s comfortable.
We’re used to it.
The safety we feel is just like being wrapped up in our mother’s arms.
But life is different now.
No one is telling us when to clean up our room or what career we should take.
Our persona may be only found in the roles we play…
For example, as a parent.
Moms and dads have raised their children and are now left to find who they are again.
Some notice this feeling of vanished direction.
Others sense if more slowly.
Either way, feeling lost is actually a really good thing.
Here’s why:
We become aware of our surroundings
There are times when we will wonder. When we get the sense that something is no longer comfortable yet not completely uncomfortable either. We start to pay attention to the small things in our lives as well as the experiences just out of our reach. Having no real direction yet in sight, we are not hindered by limits or boundaries. Our sense of heading one way or another is insignificant. Maybe this allows us to slow down and for the first time in our lives, become an observer to life.
We become curious
As we watch the world unfold before us, we find ourselves entranced by the unknown. Talents long forgotten and dreams never granted become something we can now feel, touch, and live. The possibility of failure of trying something is not enough to prevent our new-found thirst for the questions that seem to be ever present. Just like a kid, we have this need to know more. Our quest for answers becomes stronger with our drive to investigate further.
We develop perspectives
Now that we have become aware of our situation and are inquisitive, we now hold a different point of view. In these first two stages, our moments of change may occur slowly. Most will never notice them. However, once you reach the perspective stage of being lost, your now know that your world is forever changed. Beginning to see the world as a whole instead of only from your vantage point, changes everything. You see all sides to every story rather than the only one directly in front of you.
We discover
Throughout this process of feeling adrift, we now find ourselves in a new world. There is no set agenda. We must allow ourselves to venture away from everything we know and become a beginner once again. Learning creates more opportunities as we tender to the fact that there is so much we don’t know. So much we have not experienced. Because we have granted ourselves permission to explore something outside of ourselves, we have changed the pattern of our life. Our quest is now a journey, one where we begin to trust in where we are, the purpose of endeavors before us, and the surprises life has in store for us.
We grow
When it is all said and done, after days or months of wandering aimlessly, we find ourselves in a new place. This place is not one where we find fear or doubt — instead, it is built on peace and a calmness we never knew existed. In some ways, we are the same person we have always been. The person we were born to be. With an incredible sense of “being” and looking back at every step we have taken to get here, we now appreciate the growth that has occurred. Although it was never predicted at the beginning of this feeling lost, we are grateful for the intense improvements we now consider to be blessings.
The steps we all take all lead here…
Some of us experience this “lost” feeling when we get out of high school and wander around the college we thought we attend. Others go from job to job, trying to find the one that fits “just right.” There are even those who feel lost when their life (as they knew it) is turned upside down or shifts in a way they had never predicted.
Feeling lost is not a bad thing…
In fact, it is a sign that your inner compass is trying to tell you something.
Maybe you have ignored the previous signs placed before you.
Perhaps, you saw them, but didn’t do anything with them.
There are moments of confusion in our lives, but they should never be something scary.
They are an enlightenment of unforeseen power.
For in the steps we take through our lives, no steps will ever matter more than the ones we stumble through…
You see, the greatest thing about being lost is not in the reaching of a final destination…but in the person we become along the way.
It is the only place you will find yourself.
Michelle A. Homme, 2017 ©
