On Being Lost

I distinctly remember a conversation I had with a mentor, proclaiming to them that my interests were spread so far, with my network of contacts sprinkled wide over many fields and industries, that I felt conceptually lost.

I questioned how would I maneuver this path that I was supposed to take, without knowing where I was going, let alone where I wanted to go.

Like many young people, I first turned to literature, aggressively looking for proposed answers in the words of philosophers and intellectuals.  Then, I turned to writing, hoping that I’d miraculously scribble out directions that would guide me along a pre-determined path to meaning.  Finally, I ended up in a position where I was so wound up in “figuring it out” that my social life became a nuisance.  Locked in my own head, “searching” became my primary outlet to everything else.  Believe me, this is not a healthy, useful or necessary situation for anyone to be in.

My mentor had an interesting answer to my proposal of feeling lost that knocked a sense of direction into me.

If you are self-aware enough to feel lost, then you are not lost.  The thing to consider is that people who are lost, do not realize it, and probably never will.

When I thought about the quote, it seemed facetious at first.  After a few more recitations–it clicked.  Slowly, a clear perspective set in.

Literature, writing and pondering are healthy and purposeful outlets, but only as supplements to what you are really after.  Searching for answers in external functions is like being inside a time loop: every time you think you’ve got what you’re after, you’re thrown right back to the beginning.

The point I’m attempting to make is that by experimenting with an abundance interests, people, habits and activities, you’ll experience the necessary joy of success and the bitter-sense of failure.  It’s just part of the process.

If you’re doing it right, you should feel lost.  That’s part of figuring it out, and that’s part of making sense of what you’re after.  And if you’re not lost, I’d find a way to get there.  It’s too easy not to be.

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