Not All Who Wander Are Lost in Life

Lost in Life

There was a time where life was moving forward and I was not. I felt stuck and had no idea where to turn or what my next move was. I had taken so many steps back and as a result I felt behind. A series of missed opportunities and bad career and business decisions, left me feeling lost and behind.  Each day bled into the next of an unwanted routine and the same mundane. I was wandering and I was lost in life.

It took practice to focus my wandering mind, because in many ways I had given up and surrendered to the state of staying lost. I finally made a choice that even though I didn’t know where all I wanted to go, I knew I didn’t want to stay where I was. The real change started from the inside out. First, I started by focusing on who I wanted to be before I thought about where I wanted to go. I knew I need to work on myself to be a better version of myself before anything else. Little by little things started to turn around in my life. Though there is still so much uncertainty in my life about my future, I am no longer wandering because I am lost. I am wandering because I am planning and learning. It takes time.

Society has fixated on social clocks and time tables for when milestones are supposed to happen like college, career, marriage etc. We are taught that something is wrong with us if we are not reaching these “have it together life markers” fast enough or looked down on if we don’t know our next move.

If we are not careful as a society, we can equate someone not knowing where they are going now as someone who is a complete “write off” and forever lost in life. We can pass judgment and put everyone into a box along with those who are not even trying at all.

But just because someone is wandering doesn’t mean they are not trying or they are not learning, they are not growing, they are not planning, or they are not dreaming.

Trying is what you are doing in the here and now whether it’s going to school or working your jobs, saving, setting goals, and working hard. Trying is when you keep stepping one foot in front of the other because you know in your heart you need to keep going. That’s the winning spirit that will pay off. 

That is ok. People start college at all different times in life. Some people get married young and some people get married old. Some people hit the ground running after high school and some take hard detours and long scenic routes but they come around to finding where they need to be. They learn.

Life is full of Seasons

If we constantly fixate on the idea that we are behind or we are going nowhere compared to this person or that person, we take on the lost mentality. The lost mentality of giving up, never trying, or never being satisfied with what we have accomplished. That lost mentality is so prevalent in our society. Then when we eventually get to where we want to be, we call ourselves “late boomers” or dismiss our success. We brush it off because it didn’t fit the “normal” timetable or we didn’t accomplish what someone else did in their life. Why?

Just because something in your life is not a “now” doesn’t means it’s a never. Just because you went through obstacles doesn’t mean your dreams are not meant to be. Just because you screwed something up doesn’t mean you should give up on yourself altogether. Just because you tried something and it didn’t work out, that doesn’t make you a failure. Sometimes just as important as it is to know what you do like and what works for you, is to know what you don’t like and what doesn’t work for you. It’s a learning process.

Extend yourself grace. Work hard of course but keep stepping one foot in front of the other even if you don’t have all the step by step directions. Most people don’t. To the outside, you may look lost but you know that you’re planning, you’re showing up, you’re trying and you’re dreaming.

Not all who wander are lost.

Lost in Life

 

Not All Who Wander in Life are Lost

Take care,



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