Are You Feeling Lost in Life? Use These 6 Lessons to Find Your Way

Are you feeling lost in life? Do you feel broken down, and can’t help but feel completely lost with no way in sight? Here’s how you can find your way back.

Feeling lost in life, is a way of life these days. No matter what we’ve achieved or how far behind we are, we can’t help but feel suffocated by anxiety because of all the constant comparisons, and glossed over world of social media.

Sometimes the sensation of feeling lost can creep in when we least expect it, and before we know it, we’re helpless and start to feel that all too familiar sinking feeling of despair and aimlessness.

Are you feeling lost in life right now? Do you feel like the stairs of success is never-ending, no matter how long you climb?

If you’ve read the introduction article here, “I don’t know what to do with my life“, you would know that we all get lost in life and feel helpless, but what matters is what we do when we get lost, and how we take those decisions that matter in life.

Are you feeling lost in life?

At times, when we have to take a life altering decision, or even a few smaller decisions, we play safe and take the first decent decision that comes to our mind. But it’s not always the right thing to do, because that little decision could alter your life forever.

And trust me, life doesn’t forgive your errors easily. I was always a writer and a speaker, but I assumed that logically, an engineer would be a better profession.

I gave up the creative side of me and took to studying science, which I considerably liked. It didn’t take me long to realize how wrong I was to have chosen this path. It is a good path, but to me, that path was leading me away from the life my inner voice was guiding me towards. [Read: 18 ways to build high self esteem and start winning in life]

I suffered through four years of technical engineering courses and added one more year to complete the course, and to rub salt on my wounds.

An engineer is a great profession, but that just wasn’t my cup of life. I made one mistake and paid by losing five years of my life, stuck in a professional field I didn’t want, in a university I hated with all my heart, in an isolated town two hours away from civilization. I was completely lost.

How to find your way out when you’re sinking deeper

I was consumed with hate, I was so lost in life I didn’t know where I was, or what I wanted to be. It looked like I would end up with no positive education and no life. I wasn’t just feeling lost in life, I was sinking and giving up. [Read: The best inspirational movies for when your motivation lags]

You see, I wouldn’t call myself a loser. I have an IQ that’s way higher than 99.9 percent of the population in the world. I am passionate with my work, and I can think, and yet I could barely scrape through a college degree that has given excellent jobs to millions of people.

Was I dumb or was I being stubborn? Truly, I was just lost in life. And that’s what happens to passionate people who are stuck at the wrong job or at the wrong place. They get lost. So decide what you want out of life, and plan it.

If you believe you can do it, and you seem to be doing a good job at it, don’t lose your passion. But at times, passion can overrule your logic and the voices in your head. Be certain that you can make a difference, and make up your mind to stick to it before you set off on your journey. [Read: How to inspire yourself and the people around you]

6 lessons that can change your life

Before you set out to make history, achieve your dreams, and live your life, there are a few things that you have to work out within your head, so you never have to feel lost in life.

#1 KNOW YOUR SUCCESS STORY

Now what is it that you really want out of your life? Is it riches, fame, happiness, or something else? Every person’s dream is different, and your friend’s definition of riches and end goals may be very different from yours. Saying “I want to be rich” or “I want to be happy” isn’t the end of your planning. It’s the small details that matter.

Do you want to be rich enough to buy a house and live off debt? Do you want to be rich enough to own a 35 acre villa off the beach side with thirteen cars and nine dogs, and Leonardo DiCaprio as your neighbor? Or do you want enough to make two ends meet? Dreams will change, and passion will take you ahead.

But to start with, you need to benchmark your dream, so you don’t start feeling lost in life along the way. Success is what everyone wants. Think about what exactly you want to attain in your life. Remember, money may be the the first thing that comes to mind, but is that really what you want? And what else do you want along with that? [Read: 13 inspiring ways to bring out the best in yourself]

#2 WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE?

Everyone has a threshold for sacrifices. Some push further, and some give up on the very first sign of threat. We work hard, only in the hope of not letting ourselves down, but each day we come across hurdles, big and small, and it’s not easy to overcome all of them without hurting ourselves.

When you want something, you will have to suffer an equal magnitude of pain and loss before you attain it. So ask yourself, are you ready to dream big, or would you be willing to take it slowly, one step at a time, where the pain will be considerably smaller.

Would you be willing to burn the midnight oil? Would you be willing to lose weekends and holidays, cut your expenditures to bare minimum, or would you be willing to cut down on the time you spend with your partner?

These are a few things you need to think about before you take the next step. [Read: What should I do with my life to make it better?]

#3 KEY VALUES

When you’re younger and more ambitious, your dreams start and end with money. You think that money will buy you anything and everything. But this is exactly the sort of thing that can get you feeling lost in life and miserable.

Wishing for money and nothing else is an easy choice, to a certain extent, but at one point, you have to draw the line. In reality, money can’t give you everything. It can only give you a push in the right direction.

Yes, money can buy you cars, houses, a grand life and bling bling to show off on Instagram. But instead of looking at money as the end result, look at money as the by-product of your plans. Have a vision, build stronger core values, and if you get these right, money will find it’s way too.

So what is the value you want to be attached with? Do you want to make a difference to lives with your thoughts and ideas, or by making people laugh, or by healing others, or by leading them to better pastures?

This might seem idiotic, but remember, when you do make money at some point of time in your life, your key values will matter more than anything else. Even if this is an early step, give it a thought. Your life will be a lot less messy and you’d be a lot happier when you get there. [Read: How to break through the rut when you feel helpless]

#4 WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS

True passionate people have a goal, and they stick to it. But at times, stupidity or arrogance sets in and we get a murky concoction of passionate stupidity. Just to make sure that you’re not stuck in that mess, have a good plan B.

It’s easy to build castles in the sky, but it’s when you wake up that you realize how hard things can be. Remember, it’s your happiness that matters the most, so listen to the voice in your head, and interpret it well. Instead of trying to make it on top on day one, plan your baby steps. And preferably, choose a career that has multiple options.

Even if you go halfway and realize you’re not cut out for something, you could still progress by choosing an alternate vision along the same lines of your actual dream. [Read: 12 insightful lessons to have a much better life]

#5 LOOK BEFORE LEAPING

These days, everyone is extremely ambitious. It’s never bad to be ambitious though. Ambition is the road map to an adventurous life. But embarking on an adventure without careful planning does not make one an adventurer. It makes them a vagabond.

The difference, or the missing link, between a renowned adventurer and a filthy vagabond is pretty slim. Just a simple map, and an idea. So before you listen to the voice in your head and get moving, plan your steps, and be wise enough to plan with your head rather than your heart. [Read: What it means to be your own hero and take control of your life]

#6 MEMORIES OF YOUR LIFE

What legacy do you want to leave here when you pass on? What do you want people to say about your life and you as a person? What do you want to be known for? What would you like your obituary to read? Knowing where you want to end up makes choosing the path to get there, and keeping track of your progress, infinitely easier.

When you’re young, you don’t really care about being remembered. All you’re focused on is how you can avoid feeling lost in life. But as age catches up with you, you’d want to do all those things you missed out on in the earlier part of your life. [Read: The secret to happiness – An uncomplicated guide to a better life]

Are you still feeling lost in life?

Create your own map and plan your own journey. No one really has to ever feel lost in life. I was lost in life too. It took many years to find my way back. And then again, I found myself on the wrong path again. And i’m still finding myself now.

You may feel lost too, and you may not know what you’re doing. You may be experiencing this for a few years now. But remember, it’s just a few years of your entire life. Your rest of your long life is still ahead of you.

Someone once said, give a person a month to clean a house, and they’ll clean it. But give the same person three hours to clean the same house, and they’ll still clean it. Funny how that works, isn’t it?!

It’s like stopping on the highway of life to ask for directions, or to enjoy the sunset, because you’re momentarily lost. And that’s it. We all have the opportunities and the resolve to follow our passion and avoid getting lost in life. [Read: Hustle porn and why it makes everything worse for your life]

Your world can be exciting and full of passion, every single day. But even in your own map of life, it is easy to stray and get stranded in a pool of quicksand. So listen to yourself and let your passion take you forward, to your dreams of happiness. [FastCompany: Hustleporn and the American dream]

Happiness, however elusive, is only one step away, so wake up each morning, and ask yourself the same question, “Am I really happy today?” You may be feeling lost today, but one day, not far into the future, you will answer that question with an affirmative answer.

[Read: The best lessons to live by – Surround yourself with positive people]

Remember, feeling lost in life now and then is inevitable. But matters is how long you decide to stay in helplessness, and how soon you’re going to take a baby step into a better world of passion and happiness.

The post Are You Feeling Lost in Life? Use These 6 Lessons to Find Your Way is the original content of LovePanky - Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships.