Humans tend to want to have everything under control. But unfortunately life often has other plans. And there are some situations in which it is actually healthy and can be good for us when we feel a little lost.
We’ve all probably experienced times when we didn’t know what to do. In which we had no idea what to do next and what we even wanted. This feeling of being lost is anything but pleasant – but it is part of life like pain, sadness or joy and happiness. And there are even phases and moments in life when it is healthy and important for us to feel a little lost. Because only when we feel that things can’t go on like this can we use this energy to think about how we want to live our lives. What should be different, what is important to us and what we need.
When it can even be good for you to feel lost
1. As a young person
So much changes as teenagers and even in our twenties. We only slowly grow into the person we will one day become (want to be), we get to know ourselves, make mistakes, perhaps experience love for the first time, find new friends and lose old ones. It’s only natural that at this time in life when so much is changing, we sometimes feel lost. We have to make so many decisions that potentially affect our entire lives, such as our choice of education or field of study. This can also overwhelm and overwhelm us.
But if we manage to change our perspective on the situation, we realize that it’s absolutely not a bad thing if we are unsure and don’t know where we’re headed. The beautiful thing is that this phase of our lives is characterized by great curiosity. “Curiosity makes young people ask questions, find out things, experiment, dare to do something and explore the new and unknown,” explains psychologist Dr. Carl E. Pickhardt told “Hack Spirit”. And it is precisely this curiosity that makes us dare to do things and take paths that we might not want to try out in later phases of life when we feel more stable.
2. If our job no longer suits us
But ultimately, a feeling of being lost can accompany us throughout our entire lives. It can be an alarm signal for us that something is wrong, that something doesn’t suit us (anymore) – for example a job. Whether it is because another task would suit us better or because the job itself is the right one, but the environment is not right. But if we feel like we’re professionally lost, unsure about what the next step should be for us, we might try to look at it positively. We could be grateful that at any time in life we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves and try something different. And courageously take exactly the step that feels right now.
3. During a breakup
It looks very similar in relationships. If we are abandoned or have the feeling that our relationship is no longer good for us, it can be painful and really throw us off track. But we should not underestimate the opportunities this offers us. In the midst of sadness, anger, and feeling lost, we may be able to rediscover something within ourselves that we may have almost forgotten. Values that are important to us, needs that have been neglected in the relationship.
When a relationship ends, nothing is the same anymore. Our entire lives are turned upside down. But that’s exactly what sometimes gives us the opportunity to really look into ourselves and ask ourselves whether it wasn’t perhaps urgently necessary for our lives to be turned inside out. Because we were stuck in our routines and everyday life and only functioned on autopilot. We feel lost – but this also gives us the chance to really find ourselves.