How To Deal With Feeling Lost

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? In today’s world, the feeling of being lost is both more uncommon and more prevalent and difficult than ever.

Let me explain. Today, if I don’t know where my doctor’s office is, what restaurant I should make a reservation at, or what that tricky lyric to a song is, I have an incredibly quick fix — this tiny box of information I keep in my pocket to stare at and scroll through at every empty moment I get. It carries a quick remedy to every feeling of being lost and unsure. Instant gratification, they say.

We’ve become spoiled.

Gone are the days when we had to pick up a map and figure out which way to hold it and fold it when we accidentally veer of our path. Gone are the days when we were starving and decided to walk into a restaurant because of the aroma we could smell from down the street. Gone are the days when we purchased a product because of its cool packaging without knowing much about its value.

In our every day lives, the Internet has, in many ways, eliminated the very natural feeling of being lost.

As a result, when we are confronted with being lost in bigger, more complicated, more real ways — whether to pursue our passions or break up with our first loves or move to a different country, we squirm with discomfort. We are no longer used to not having the answers at our fingertips.

We are terrified.

Terrified we might make the wrong choice, because we are so used to doing research to find the right one. Terrified because we won’t immediately find out how the story will end. Terrified because the stories we see — from friends to people we admire — seem to make us feel like we are the only ones who are lost.

We forget.

In being lost and confused and lonely, we forget that this is where the beauty lies. In the frustration, in the tears, in the wonder, in the fear. For how would we know that we’ve found our way if we never experienced losing it in the first place?

Trust.

There may not be an app for that, but the answer is always out there. And even though it might not have 4.5 stars and 937 glowing Yelp reviews, it will 100% be worth the wait.