There’s no doubt about it: feeling lost can feel anxiety-provoking, demoralizing, and depressing.
How do I know? I’ve been there before. Some recent moments that come to mind have centered around my work, relationships, and general purpose in life.
Perhaps on your side, you’re feeling lost after leaving a job, working through an education degree, going through a big life transition such as a marriage, divorce, death, or birth of a child, or you feel general malaise and unease surrounding your existential meaning of life.
In my experience of feeling lost about a million times in life, there’s a lot of inner hidden shame that comes with the experience, aka.:
- “Shouldn’t I have my sh*t figured out already?”
- “I thought I finally knew my path, what the hell happened?”
- “Why do I feel like I want to do something different all of a sudden? I’ve already put in so much effort already!”
- “What is wrong with me?”
To answer at least one of your questions, there’s nothing wrong with you. Feeling lost is absolutely and positively normal, and we ALL go through this experience in life (usually many times).
I’m going to share WHY feeling lost is not only normal but also why it can actually be a positive thing.
I’ll also share some helpful tips for finding your path and eighteen enlightening journaling prompts that can give you more direction and clarity.
Table of contents
What Causes a Person to Feel Lost?
If you feel lost or like you have no direction and don’t know the answers (or what to do next), it usually means any of the following:
- The life, path, or direction that you’re moving in doesn’t align with your deeper needs, dreams, or gifts.
- You’re ready to grow and evolve as a person in a whole new and different way.
- You’re disconnected from the voice of your heart and soul and have come to a standstill in order to rest and reconnect with your higher self.
Often, feeling lost is a sign that you’ve innocently been listening to the voice of the mind (or ego) instead of the deeper and wiser voice of the soul.
Other times, feeling lost is simply a sign that you’re ready to metaphorically shed an old skin that feels too tight and restricting, and expand in new and unforeseen ways.
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On the wheel of the Spiritual Wanderer’s Journey, feeling lost signifies that you’re in phase one of the inner path, where you feel a calling to go searching for what truly fulfills your soul.
Is Feeling Lost Okay (and Normal)?
Yes!
I’ve never heard of or met a person who has everything figured out 100% of the time – that just ain’t a reality!
To be human is to be in a state of flux, change, and evolution. And feeling lost is a completely normal, healthy, and positive part of that.
Just look at nature (and by the way, don’t forget that we are nature – on a human level, we’re mammals who evolved from the great apes):
There tides of the ocean have a natural ebb and flow. Trees grow leaves and then shed them. Animals carry shells, grow too big, and then go in search of new ones. Caterpillars dissolve in cocoons and become butterflies. Snakes shed their skin. Day turns into night.
Within nature, we can observe moments of transition and change everywhere.
The same happens with us humans – except because we’re usually out of touch with the Tao or the flow of Spirit, we tend to interpret these natural shifts as “something going wrong.”
As a result, we feel lost and start becoming obsessively preoccupied with that feeling.
What to Do When You Are Feeling Lost (3 Tips)
Feeling lost can often bring feelings of anxiety, sadness, and even depression.
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If you’re experiencing any of these feelings, my heart goes out to you. I know what it feels like to be totally lost, with no direction, no purpose, and no clarity in life.
(Incidentally, that’s one of the reasons why I created The Spiritual Wanderer Course – to help you find your deeper path and purpose from someone who has experienced this form of suffering first-hand.)
Furthermore, these feelings of lostness can also make us feel isolated and lonely, especially if everyone else seems to “have it all figured out” (which they don’t, by the way).
Based on personal experience, here are some of the most simple and direct tips I have for dealing with this empty feeling of being lost:
1. Cultivate intentional quietness and silence all external voices
As much as possible, try to distance yourself from all the noisy voices out there that flood your mind with drama and irrelevant static.
Take an extended break from social media. Turn off your phone notifications. Simplify and carefully select your “information diet” or what your brain takes in each day. Be a mental and emotional minimalist right now.
What I recommend doing is embracing solitude, silence, and stillness for a few days, weeks, or months.
Intentional quietness is essential for creating the space needed to tune into your inner voice again – and it’s this internal force that knows what you truly need, want, and desire on a deeper level.
2. Creatively express your inner world and e-motions each day
Creative self-expression is a powerful way of helping you to befriend and process feeling lost so that it doesn’t sit like a heavy weight in your mind and body.
You may have come across the saying that emotions are energy in motion (“e-motion”), and when you tune into your feelings, you’ll know that it’s true.
Having some kind of outlet to express those complicated emotions is not only relaxing and healing, but it can also provide tremendous clarity and, often, even inner direction.
Examples of creative self-expression could be journaling, drawing, writing a song, writing a story, singing, scrapbooking, dancing, or anything that requires you to create something unique and fresh.
Feeling lost will then cease to become a horrible cursed feeling and instead become an evocative muse to inspire your heartfelt creations.
3. Be an autodidact and let your spirit wander
An autodidact is a self-taught person, someone who delights in self-education.
When you’re struggling with feeling lost, it may be because you haven’t let your spirit wander into exploring new refreshing fields, philosophies, and teachings.
Sometimes, feeling lost happens because we lack enough quality information or unique perspectives and paths available to us. Instead, we stuff our minds with the half-thought-out junk food information found on places like social media.
Is it any wonder we feel lost?
If you spend large portions of your time externally focused, you’re probably mentally and spiritually malnourished – and this directly contributes to feelings of emptiness and lostness.
Adopt the philosophy of being a passionate learner.
Start reading soul-nourishing books again. Explore new teachings, paths, and philosophies that you’ve always had an interest in, but have never given yourself permission to explore. Sign up to enriching newsletters and also give yourself space from any content that feels shallow or half-baked.
Here are a couple of posts I recommend reading related to this article to get you started on this self-education path:
- How to Find Yourself When You’re Lost in Life (9 Steps)
- I Don’t Know Who I Am: How to Deal With An Ego Crisis
18 Journaling Prompts For Feeling Lost & Finding Your Path Again
As I mentioned above, journaling is one powerful form of creative self-expression that can help you find your path again when feeling lost.
Questions can open magical doorways of insight and are powerful ways to go soul searching.
Feel free to pick and choose any of the journaling prompts below that resonate with you – they have been designed to help you gain more clarity and direction:
- Why does feeling lost make you feel so uncomfortable? Explore your thoughts and feelings.
- If you could change any one thing in your life without negative consequences, what would it be, and why?
- What is your unique definition of “success”?
- Name the feelings that have been arising inside of you recently. What deeper lessons might they be trying to teach you?
- If you could pick any spirit animal to accompany you on your life journey right now, what would it be, and why?
- Off the top of your head, list five of your values. Then reflect on them.
- List three non-negotiables (or core needs) in life that you hold close to your heart.
- We all have a fantasy or “ideal” self in our minds that we try to live up to. What does your fantasy self look like, sound like, and behave like? How might this fantasy self be limiting you?
- What does the mind’s voice vs. the soul’s voice sound like within you? How can you tell the difference?
- In what parts of life are you the unhappiest? Why?
- In what parts of life are you the happiest? Why?
- If there was no one else in your life telling you what to do or who you should be, what would your inner voice tell you?
- Place a hand over your heart and imagine that a wise old man, woman, or person is sitting in front of you. What advice would they give you? Write in their voice.
- What do you love doing in your free time? If you can’t think of anything, what did you love doing as a teenager or child? How can you bring that more into your life?
- We all carry many “shoulds” around that limit our ability to be true to ourselves. List some of your “shoulds” and reflect on them. (E.g. “I should study to be a doctor because that’s what my parents want me to do,” “I should feel happy about this job offer,” “I should want to be friends with this person,” etc.)
- How is the you now different from the you one year ago? What has changed, evolved, and expanded?
- What is the bright or positive side of feeling lost?
- Visualize your life from the perspective of your deathbed. What are you the proudest of having done or experienced in your lifetime?
All of these questions have been chosen to help you directly or indirectly gain some clarity and perspective about where you are on the winding path of life right now.
Be gentle, take your time, and feel free to bookmark this page to return to!
Feeling Lost in Life is Normal and Healthy
Feeling lost isn’t only normal, but it’s actually HEALTHY.
Why?
Feeling lost is a sign that you’re growing and evolving as a person, or at the very least, you’ve come to a threshold of change.
We must all outgrow old ways of living and being in this world.
Feeling lost is what happens when we enter into that uncomfortable liminal space of inner expansion and transformation – and that’s a positive thing.
Imagine if we were always traveling on the same perfect path, never deviated, and never grew or evolved as a person … how boring and empty would that be?
Not knowing the path ahead isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a little scary, yes. But it also means that there are new possibilities ahead of us that we can’t quite see yet. Be a lone wolf and embrace them!
You may find that the more open you are to accepting feeling lost, the more clarity, purpose, and direction you’ll discover.
The path will eventually become clear once you stop resisting these feelings and turn inwards.
***
I hope that, by now, you feel more hopeful, knowing that there are many paths, practices, and questions out there that can help you to find your way.
Tell me, what is the hardest part about feeling lost to you? Share a comment below and let me know.
Three paths to inner transformation – here’s how I can help you go deeper:
1. The Spiritual Wanderer Course: Are you feeling lost, adrift, and unsure of your life's purpose? Gain clarity, focus, and direction on your inner path by uncovering the five archetypes of awakening within you. Learn how to navigate the highs and lows of your inner journey and chart your unique path with 3+ hours of audio-visual content, workbooks, meditations, and a premium test.
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Thankyou for this timely article. I found the questions at the beginning very searching, and answering them was a useful exercise for making me dive deeper & focus on why I am at a loss at making a crucial decision. ⛅
The disconnection from others hurts the most for me. The continuous neverending search for my herd, kindred spirits alike.
Also the doubt about being “wrong”. Am I to harsh, too disconnected? Is it me that is too judge full, am I subconsciously rejecting others? And how do I find the truthful answer to that question…?