Most people will have experienced feeling lost at least once in their life when nothing seems to make any sense. However, it’s important to remember that you can’t get stuck emotionally and that it’s a sign telling you that you’re ready for a change. If you don’t want to wait too long for the change to come, here are practical steps to find yourself again when you feel lost in life.
1. Unplug Yourself from Technology
While technology has provided us with plenty of opportunities, it is also the reason why we’re so disconnected from ourselves and others. While you spend all your time on social media focusing on the lives of others, you don’t give yourself enough room to work on your things. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube can become an outlet where we constantly compare our lives to that of others.
We often forget that most of the things we see on our screens aren’t so perfect and don’t necessarily reflect what happens in reality. As a result, technology can seriously drain our energy, and take away our happiness. Try to spend a weekend away from social media and technology — tap into your creativity and connect with people while doing things that make you happy.
2. Allow Yourself to Feel Everything
Have you ever stopped to take a minute and feel what it’s like to be in your body? Everything that gets lost can be found and it’s up to you to see what that mine be. If you want to find who you are, then try feeling. While this may sound easier said than done, you’ve probably noticed that your natural response to sadness is to suppress it because it doesn’t feel good.
Think about this: Your emotional state serves as your compass which helps you answer hard questions while guiding you toward your dreams. If you do feel lost, be sure to listen to your feelings because they never lie. Tune in to the things that matter to you and live according to what your soul tells you to do — listen when it tells you that you are enough.
3. Find the Time to Meditate
If you’ve never tried meditation before, you might be surprised at how well it works when trying to find yourself. Meditating allows you to fall in love with yourself as you are, where a clear mind and open heart can eliminate all traces of doubt, fear, and worry. Reaching a place of complete stillness allows you to love yourself most purely, so be sure to look within.
Studies show that being able to place our attention on ourselves gives us a sense of healing and empowerment. What’s more, it helps us to increase our well-being and soothe our anxieties. A lot of the time when people feel lost, it’s because their mind tells them that they’re lost — this is why it’s important to find stillness because it allows us to separate the facts from fiction.
4. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
The feeling of being lost is often an indication that you’re looking for some kind of change in your life. When you feel uninspired and bored, it’s easy to lose yourself to everyone else’s lives — by staying inside your comfort zone, you can lose what makes you jolt to life. To get back on the right track, get out of that zone and find something different that you want to do.
Think about how you can update your daily routine and look for new activities that you want to do or new skills you want to learn. Now is a great time to reinvent yourself, where you might even learn something new about yourself. Don’t hesitate to try anything you want and don’t be afraid to make mistakes — if you never try, you’ll never know just how strong you can be.
5. Appreciate Alone Times
How do you feel when you spend time alone by yourself? For many, spending time on their own is cringy, and people who spend time on their own are lonely, but this is a big misconception. Spending time on your own means that you are content and that you enjoy your own company. The truth is, finding the time to spend in a quiet room away from your busy lifestyle isn’t a luxury but a priority.
You need to understand that everything you need can’t be found in material things, money, or other people — it’s already inside you. If you think that you will always need someone else to fill the void you have, you will surely become lost. Spending time alone also allows you to practice mindfulness, which will further help in your journey to finding yourself.
6. Look for Your Passion
Everyone will have experienced moments in their life when they don’t have the motivation to do anything. If you get these feelings and let them fester, it can have a significant impact on your self-esteem. The best way to get rid of these emotions is to find something that you love to do.
Ask yourself what you love to do — this could be something simple like reading or exercising or something more complex. The important thing is to tap into your passions and get in touch with who you are. Once you get started with doing things that you love, it will ignite the fire in your soul, giving you a sense of confidence and happiness.
7. Don’t Hesitate to Ask For Help
If after you’ve tried everything outlined above and nothing works, keep in mind that you’re never alone. There are plenty of people in your life who love you and will do what they can to help, so don’t be afraid to reach out to them for support. This can take the form of a family member, a friend, a mentor, and counselor, or a life coach, where you can get the right tools to help you move forward in your life.
It’s also worth remembering that sometimes, you need to lose yourself to find yourself. Don’t fixate on feelings of shame, or guilt over how your life is going — it never helps to get down about yourself. Sometimes, life will provide you with a confusing way of working itself out but it’s best to go along with the flow rather than go against it.
Remember that even when you find a new purpose in life, there’s no guarantee that you will never feel lost again. Even so, if you ever feel lost again, you already know that dark times never last, but you will. Don’t forget that even if things seem to be falling apart, they might be falling into the right place.
Finally, keep in mind that happiness can be found inside yourself — it is an inside job that can be done by being present with yourself. Even if you don’t currently have a full understanding of who you are, never look to people or things outside to fill a void. Know that life allows you to discover who you are and what you want out of it — you shouldn’t expect yourself to have everything figured out.