I am lost. That is the only truth I can be 100% sure of. One motivational speaker might not agree with that. They would say: “You are not lost, you are not there, YET.”
I don’t know how this quote should make me feel; encouraged or demotivated? I think if you are losing your direction in life, you can’t simply say you are “not there yet.” Because you don’t know if the path you are on is actually leading you “there.” The only path you currently know is the one you are on, even if you have no idea where it is leading.
And maybe that is exactly what losing your direction in life means.
But here is the catch: I believe nowhere is still a decent place to be in.
Sometimes, we need to be nowhere before we can figure out where we want to go. Losing your direction in life shows you what the wrong direction feels like. It gives you a chance to question where you are, what you want, and whether the destination you have been chasing is even the destination you actually want.
We don’t want to stay in the “nowhere zone” forever, for sure. But I also don’t think we should be in such a hurry to get “there.” The truth is, the journey matters too. The experiences, the things we become, and the things we leave behind can be far more important than what we eventually find and where we eventually end up.
Now, a lot of you might think these are philosophically “motivational” words. The truth is, they are not really motivational words at all. They are simply observations about how life works.
We all agree that “nowhere” is a horrible place to stay in, but not necessarily a horrible place to be in. We also agree that “somewhere” or “there” is where we aspire to be. But none of us can guarantee that “there” is where we will find what we are looking for.
We know we want to be there. Sometimes, we even need to be there. But we might not fully know what awaits us when we get there. We might arrive and realize that what we were looking for was not there at all.
So the journey, the actual road, with its challenges, wrong turns, disappointments, and unexpected discoveries, is where most of our lives actually happen.
Why not make this the most enjoyable part?
Now, the most important question is: how can we make sure to leave “nowhere” as quickly as possible and find our direction?
I think the answer is surprisingly simple.
Just keep moving.
I found this to be useful especial when during navigating The Emotional Struggle of Creating an Online Business.
You don’t have to know exactly where you are going. Also, you don’t have to know what “there” looks like. You just have to keep moving, keep learning, keep trying, and keep changing direction when you realize the road you are on isn’t taking you where you want to go.
Maybe being lost is not the opposite of moving forward.
Maybe sometimes, it is part of it.
So never stop.
Continue anyway.
