Sometimes, you have to lose yourself somewhere along the way to find yourself. You might feel confident and content with your path one day but feel lost, confused, and conflicted. The path to the top might look clear one day, but it can easily slip out of view depending on what circumstances you face. All of us have different ways of approaching life, and what makes us feel happy can change drastically from moment to moment. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t know which direction to turn sometimes – this is just a normal part of life.
However, you can pull yourself out of the trenches and find your way back to the light again whenever you feel lost in life.
10 Signs You Feel Lost in Life
Do you see any of these signs?
1.    You Feel Hopeless Most of the Time.
If you’re feeling lost, you probably don’t have much hope for the future. You may look around and feel exasperated about the state of the world, leaving you mentally paralyzed. If you knew your purpose, you could quickly achieve great things. However, lost souls wander to discover their calling in life, and if they haven’t found it, they start to become desperate.
The toll of daily living could also make you feel hopeless. Grinding away at your job and taking care of endless responsibilities wears away at the strongest souls. Give yourself permission to get away and go on a nature retreat sometimes; it will replenish your spirit and perspective on life.
2.    You’re Unsure of Your Path.
Even people who work in their dream career may question their path sometimes. It’s normal to reevaluate your place and purpose on Earth after a while because we all want to feel settled and secure. We also want to know that we’re making the right choices for ourselves and others. However, when you feel lost, your vision becomes blurry, and you’re constantly second-guessing your decisions.
3.    You’ve Lost Touch With Your Intuition.
When you disconnect from your intuitive side, you rely on your analytical, logical mind to navigate life. However, studies show that intuition is just as crucial as right-brained thinking in making decisions. Ideally, both parts of our brain would work in unison, creating a perfect balance. If you’re confused in life, you can’t hear that inner voice through all the static.
4.    You Fall Back Into Bad Habits.
Those who feel adrift in life may try to mask the pain with drugs, alcohol, food, or other unhealthy habits. When you’re feeling depressed and hopeless, you naturally want comfort and an escape from your mind. Most people in this world struggle with these feelings, so know that you’re not alone.
However, try going for a jog or talking with a loved one about your emotions instead of indulging in addictions. This way, you’ll get the same feel-good hormones without the adverse side effects.
5.    If You’re Lost, You Probably Feel Disconnected From the World.
Those who feel disassociated from themselves and others may perceive the world as a movie because it isn’t real. They don’t feel a connection with themselves or others or belong in any particular group. Lost souls may withdraw from others frequently because it’s more soothing to their spirit to be alone. They don’t have to pretend or put on a mask; they can be without worrying what others think.
6.    You’re Always Searching for Something, But Can’t Find It.
A disoriented soul may wander to the edges of Earth, searching for something to fill the void. However, no matter how persistently they search, they never seem satisfied with what they’ve found. There’s always something missing that they can’t put their finger on. If you’re astray in life, you may feel desperate for answers, but remember that you can only find them within.
Feeling lost is your soul crying out for attention when you’ve been focused too much on outer experiences.
7.    You’re Not Content in Life.
Feeling discontent in life means that you’re out of touch with your true self. We’re all wired for bliss, but most seek it through external means. Ideally, you’d feel complete and whole on your own, without needing anything material to appease you. Of course, it takes many lifetimes for most people to achieve this inner contentment.
For now, it’s essential to follow your heart and learn to trust your intuition. Perhaps changing up your career, relationships, or even where you live could bring renewed happiness.
8.    You Have No Goals or Ambitions.
A confused soul may feel so hopeless that they’ve given up on life goals or dreams. They may go through the motions of daily life without feeling connected to what they’re doing. Unfortunately, most people live on autopilot, not seeing a more profound meaning or purpose in their work. They live for the weekends or vacations instead and try to forget about the drudgery of the workweek.
9.    If You’re Lost, You See No Point to Life.
If you contemplate deeply enough the meaning of life, you may conclude that it doesn’t have an obvious purpose. We’re all trying to find our reason for living, so it’s understandable to feel this way. Truly lost souls may fall into a deep depression if they ponder the big questions too often, however. If you’re feeling empty or hopeless, talk to someone you trust or focus on helping others somehow.
Sometimes, any action can take your mind off an existential crisis, especially if it involves making others’ lives better.
10. You Dislike Yourself and Others.
Sadly, many confused or hurting souls intensely dislike everything about life, including its inhabitants. If you don’t see a point or purpose in life, you may grow to hate existence itself. Most people struggle with self-loathing, but it can become a problem if you can’t see anything positive about yourself. Remember, how you view yourself affects every facet of your life, including your overall perception.
Here are five ways to find yourself when you feel lost
Now that you know the signs of being lost in life, what do you do?
1. Don’t fight your feelings
First and foremost, you can’t ever climb out of the hole you’ve found yourself in if you try to suppress your feelings. To get to know yourself again, you have to walk through the darkness – not avoid it. You might not see the point in evaluating your feelings, but you have to become aware of how you feel to get anywhere in life. Your emotions at any given time can tell you a lot about your current situation and can catalyze change.
So, when you feel lost, go deep within and learn to listen to your feelings. Your intuition always serves your highest good – you have to learn how to tune into it.
2. Trust yourself
Secondly, you can’t ever find yourself again if you don’t trust both yourself and the process of knowing yourself. At some point in life, all of us will lose touch with ourselves somehow. However, the key to finding ourselves once again is to believe in ourselves and know that we have everything we need to thrive. If you turn your back on yourself and your faith in your abilities, where else will you turn?
Remember, the most important relationship you have in life is with yourself because you can’t ever run away from yourself. So, learning how to trust your inner voice and intuition will go a long way in finding yourself again.
3. Remember to engage in things that you enjoy
When you feel lost, try to remember what truly makes you happy. Get outside and get fresh air, join a gym or yoga studio, work in the garden, or do any activity that brings a smile to your face. Simply doing these little things that make our hearts happy can dispel any feelings of hopelessness that might creep up. As humans, we naturally worry about if we’re living “the right way,” but keep in mind that everything is subjective.
There is no rule book to life; we get to create it as we go along. So, it only makes sense to use our time wisely and treat ourselves with kindness and compassion whenever we feel lost. Frequently, we feel lost because we’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere in life, so going down the wrong path can usually help us find the right one eventually.
4. Try new things
Are you feeling lost? Why not shake things up a bit and get out of that boring daily routine? As contradicting as it sounds, you can quickly lose yourself inside the mundane and familiar. Inside our comfort zones, we can start to lose touch with our spirit, with what makes us indeed come alive.
We all need some variety every once in a while. Maybe by learning a new skill or keeping ourselves occupied with new activities, we can reinvent ourselves and become even better than the person we once knew.
5. Dispel negative thinking patterns
The easiest way to start feeling lost and alone is to engage in negative thinking. That voice inside your head telling you that you can’t accomplish something and won’t ever find your way in life only exists because your ego feels too scared to let go. So, to quiet your ego, you need to feed your soul. You need to breathe in the good, breathe out the bad, and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
Easier said than done, but starting the day with just one positive affirmation can put things into perspective and eliminate those pesky, nagging negative thought patterns.
Don’t allow your mind to overtake your life – feeling lost doesn’t mean you have to give up on yourself. You can do whatever you set your mind to in life, and you didn’t come here to worry and feel worthless. You have a purpose here, even if you can’t always see it. Trust yourself and never give up, and you’ll start to notice beautiful things unfolding in your life.
Final Thoughts on Finding Yourself if You Feel Lost
No one wants to feel disconnected from themselves, but unfortunately, many people in this modern world do. Getting caught up in the daily grind can easily make you feel like a machine just carrying out functions, not a human being with emotions. However, you can get back in touch with yourself by doing activities that bring you joy, reconnecting with Mother Earth, and slowing down a bit.
We’re not here to hurry through life, pay bills and earn a piece of paper that says we learned something in college. We are souls in temporary human form, here to rediscover our divine origins. Never forget this higher purpose as you carry out your daily duties because your transformation is the greatest gift you can give the world.