I don't know what to do with my life: how to deal with this feeling? #frustration

Society transmits to us the idea that what is exemplary is to be clear about our vital decisions. The idea that circulates among most of us is that someone who hesitates when choosing a career, job or partner is someone who is lost. We internalize this feeling easily. Thus, today we want to give you some recommendations on what you can do when you feel that you have lost your vital compass.

I don't know what to do with my life: how to deal with this feeling?

I don’t know what to do with my life, I’ve been through a time when I feel lost and I don’t find meaning in much of what I do . Who has never been in this same situation? Who has not felt that deep existential emptiness? Few realities define the human being as much as that uncertainty in one’s own future in which one does not know exactly which direction to take.

We hope that our existence has some meaning, that what we do is easy to interpret along the lines of a story that is coherent, logical. However, we often do not notice that this meaning is given a posteriori.

For example, you choose a studio, but then you work on something that apparently has little to do with it. For a while you take it for granted that it makes you happy; what do you want. Until there comes a time when cracks begin to appear in that house of cards . Someone notices that you have increased your complaints and asks you a direct question: so why do you do it if it makes you feel so bad?

Now, the fact is that there is nothing extraordinary about the changes or the doubt. When we go through a crisis derived from the fact that we have found cracks in our vital pillars, we tend to panic. Nobody likes crises, even if they are the most normative and recurring periods.

People change, our interests vary and we need to open ourselves to other paths. Accepting it and knowing how to handle that process shapes our evolution.

We must be willing to let go of the life we ​​planned in order to have the life that awaits us.

—Joseph Campbell

I don't know what to do with my life: how to deal with this feeling?

When insecurity embraces us and we don’t know what to do with our lives, it’s time to perform an act of introspection

Keys you can follow when you don’t know what to do with your life

You may need to reformulate your resolutions. Perhaps you should make a small change, or maybe start a whole personal revolution. When you feel stuck and tell yourself, not without some frustration , that I don’t know what to do with my life , the first thing is to have a coffee with the person and practice internal dialogue.

Enclosing ourselves in the shells of our mind for a while to encourage introspection is always a good start . It is because, on average, we barely have time for it. The day to day is usually chaotic, demanding and noisy. Thus, and almost without realizing it, we disassociate ourselves from that internal world that is crying out for us to stop. Because he has things to tell us…

Let’s see what strategies can help us in these circumstances.

Changes are part of our life. When we don’t know which direction to take or what to do, it’s time to shape change by first clarifying our values ​​and purposes.

Analyze where you are now

To know where to reorient your life, you can start by clarifying the current situation. What changes have occurred in your environment that have precipitated this crisis? In this way it is as if you were approaching with the helicopter to a new starting point.

Therefore, instead of letting ourselves be carried away by frustration and anxiety about not knowing what to do with our lives, we can ask ourselves some questions to achieve precisely this mental clarity about the present:

• Does the activities I perform now identify me, give me meaning and make me happy? (work, studies, hobbies…)
• Am I really doing what I want to do?
• Am I happy with the people around me? Is there someone who brings me more concerns than well-being?
• How do I see myself in 5 years? Am I satisfied with that perspective of the future or should I change it?

Let’s try to honestly answer these questions.

Clarify your values ​​and purposes

Our values ​​and purposes need to be updated from time to time. Because people change, and circumstances do too, and they don’t always position us in places where we feel comfortable. As an example, research work such as that carried out at the Clermont Auvergne University in France tells us that the pandemic and the covid crisis have taken their toll on many of us .

The world has changed, and it is logical that many of the realities that we took for granted (work, future, relationships), are in crisis. Therefore, a more than necessary step that we must promote is to reflect on what values ​​and purposes define us now.

What inspires you?

Look beyond your closest reality, your routines, the people around you in your immediate present. What is it that really inspires you, what excites you, accelerates your heart and fills your mind with possibilities, dreams and desires? Think about it while you answer a series of new questions:

• What kind of work would make you happy and fulfilled doing it?
• What activities interest you and would you like to try?
• What people inspire you? What comes to mind when you hear or see them?

What inspires us can give us new reasons to initiate changes. Illusion is the engine of motivation.

When you don’t know what to do with your life, remember your talents

We all have excellent skills in some field. Each of us has our own talents, skills that distinguish us from the rest and that allow us to enjoy a good sense of self- efficacy . Let’s remember them, keep them in mind and focus on them. Because those unique abilities can mark the path that brings us closer to a new vital stage.

Also, in addition to these skills, it is good to clarify what our personal strengths are (empathy, creativity , resolution, sensitivity, confidence, etc.) . They are nutrients that should give us temperance in times of insecurity.

In addition to reviewing your values ​​in times of crisis, also take your intuition into account. It is the voice of your conscience when you don’t know what to do in life

Open yourself to new experiences, you have a whole world to discover

You may have spent many years steering your life in a certain direction. However, you are at a time when you are beginning to doubt what seemed so clear. Suddenly, where before you saw logical actions, now you begin to see a range of possibilities, that you have alternatives that you might like even more than the one you had already opted for before reaching that point.

Maybe it’s time to change tracks, to catch another train. The world is full of possibilities, of extraordinary people to meet, of occupations that can give us real meaning both professionally and personally.

Let’s do it, discover new experiences, learn more skills, meet other people… Surely in a short time, our existence will resume the right course. The one that really satisfies us.