Have you ever found yourself lost in the chaos of life? You know, stuck, lacking motivation, or feeling like you’re wandering aimlessly? Well, guess what? You’re not alone, and today I want to teach you how to get back on track when you feel lost.

Maybe you’re at a point where you’re not sure what your next move should be. You might be dealing with a sense of helplessness, feeling emotionally numb, or like your fire has fizzled out.

Life has a way of throwing us curveballs that make us feel lost—maybe a breakup, missed opportunities, or just realizing that your life isn’t quite going the way you thought it would. Sometimes, you can’t even put your finger on why you feel lost; you just find yourself bouncing from one random task to the next.

In this state, you may find yourself fixating on what you should be doing rather than what you truly want to do. The good news? There are numerous ways to rediscover your authentic self and navigate your way back to your path.

Understanding the Meaning of ‘Feeling Lost’

“Experiencing that sense of being lost is a bit like wading through the waters of depression,” notes Carolyn Ferreira, PsyD, a psychologist specializing in rebuilding relationships and aiding recovery from trauma and addictions.

When life throws you into the realm of feeling lost, you might find yourself drowning, lacking motivation and growing disinterest in activities that once brought you joy. You slowly become disconnected from your authenticity and unique identity.

So, how do we find our way back? Let’s dive into three simple steps you can take when you feel lost.

What to do When You Feel Lost?

I follow a simple process to find my way back to my path. This process is a knowing.

A knowing that when something is right for you, it brings you clarity. On the other hand, when something is wrong for you, it brings you confusion.

This knowing is important to comprehend before we dive into three steps to get you back on track when you feel lost.

Step 1: Validate Your Emotions

Start by acknowledging and accepting the whirlwind of emotions swirling within you. It’s common to want to reject uncomfortable feelings, but as most people find, rejecting them only leads to a deeper sense of loss.

Just as an accident on a highway can congest traffic, suppressing emotions may impede the natural energetic flow within you, leading to emotional congestion and, metaphorically speaking, “accidents” in your well-being. Many call these accidents dis-ease or disease.

It’s crucial to recognize that you are not these emotions; they are distinct energies passing through. Accepting them allows for a smoother flow, much like clearing the road after an accident, ensuring that energy circulates freely and preventing emotional congestion.

To validate these emotions, identify where you’re holding onto them in your body. Express your feelings through journaling, detailing why you feel this way, physical sensations, and thoughts.

Remember, it’s not just okay to feel; it’s crucial for ensuring a free flow of energy in your body.

Step 2: Nourish the Emotions

After acknowledging your emotions, nurture them with compassion and love. Remember, you are not the emotions; you are the one experiencing them.

Extend compassion and love to the emotions using visualization techniques, such as picturing holding the heaviness in your hands like a malnourished baby or puppy needing care and nourishment.

The “hungry baby” technique, developed in 2023, is a powerful tool to help you nourish emotions. By embracing and feeding your emotions with love, you’ll notice resistance leaving your body. This is what people call magic.

We’ll dive deeper into this process of dealing with resistance in my upcoming free course, Rise of the Healer, launching this Fall. Feel free to sign up here.

Other techniques include deep breathing, meditation, and yoga. Be kind to yourself, countering negative thoughts with affirmations like “Feeling is my superpower” or “If I’m overwhelmed, I can take a break.”

Remind yourself that, despite external circumstances, you have control over how you react. A compassionate approach to self-care becomes a potent tool for navigating the ride of feeling lost.

Step 3: Explore Your Values

Once you are in a place of love, compassion and alignment, take a moment to journal the following. These three questions come from Dr. Naram and have helped thousands of people become clear on their purposes.

• If you knew you couldn’t fail, you knew you could only succeed, what would you do or be?
• If you had 3 months left to live, what would you do or be?
• If you had a billion dollars in the bank, and you had already given all you can to charities and family members, what would you do or be?

If you need to, think of someone you admire—a mentor, colleague, or friend. Identify the specific qualities that draw you to them. Maybe it’s their friendliness, kindness, or assertiveness. These qualities often mirror values that you hold dear, even if they are sometimes easier to identify in others than in yourself.

Reflecting on your values and aligning your actions with them establishes a connection with your authentic self and reintroduces a sense of purpose into your life. The answers to these questions become invaluable guides, extensions of who you are, and reasons for your presence in this season of your life.

In conclusion, feeling lost can be a challenging journey, but understanding and acknowledging these emotions serve as vital starting points. Despite the discomfort, this experience can be transformative, propelling you towards personal clarity and what truly matters.

It’s an opportunity for growth, inspiring enriching journeys, career shifts aligned with your passions, and connections through support groups. Feeling lost isn’t just a hurdle; it can be a catalyst for positive change, nudging you towards fulfilling dreams and fostering meaningful connections.

Remember, feeling lost can mark the beginning of a more profound and fulfilling life—a journey that leads you back to yourself. Embrace the chance for growth and rediscovery as you navigate the path ahead.

Feeling Lost Quotes

“You can wait forever. What isn’t right for you will never remain in your life. There is no job, person, or city that you can force to be right for you if it is not, though you can pretend for a while. The truth is that what is right for you will come to you and stay with you and won’t stray from you for long. The truth is that when something is right for you, it brings you clarity, and when something is wrong for you it brings you confusion.

-brianna wiest

“I must give you this warning: your journeys will rarely ever go as you plan. You will make mistakes, and you will feel lost. Whenever that happens, look to the light and keep moving forward in faith.”

― Seth Adam Smith, Rip Van Winkle and the Pumpkin Lantern

“The most profound healing I’ve ever experienced happened when I did less—when I stepped away from my routine, from productivity, from scrolling online, from painting on a smile. It happened when I sat with myself—feeling lost, alone, and wondering what next? Have patience. Healing and growth require you to relinquish the familiar in order to find a new freedom.”

― Brittany Burgunder

“At one point, all of us must be lost in a desert. It’s an excellent sanction. If we never have that trial, I struggle to see how else we can find ourselves.”

― Karl Kristian Flores, A Happy Ghost

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”

― Steve Maraboli

“Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.”

― Nicole Reed

“Feeling lost? Good! Now you get to walk new paths that lead to much better places.”

― Robin Sharma

“There’s never one right path. There are thousands of versions of your life where you have the most fantastic time. You can never choose all of them. But you can realise when you’re feeling stuck and take a small step in a different direction. Even when you have no idea where you’re going, you can follow your curiosity, just to see where it takes you. You don’t need a calling or grand mission. It’s more than enough to make your life a gentle pursuit of love, joy, and curiosity.”

― Lucy Fuggle, Your Life in Bloom: A Manual on Courage and Finding Your Path for When You Need it Most

Written By: Allie Pratt