As a pre-filter for who should read this short story, that headline is really very poor. It's very poor because it filters out nobody. If you're a living, loving, thinking person, then - at one point or another - you will have felt that you don't know what you're doing with your life.
So, if and when it happens again, this might help. The first thing to consider is that the feelings we are exploring when it appears that we don’t know what we are doing with our lives come from uncertainty. And uncertainty is as much a part of life as certainty. In fact, without uncertainty there can be none of life’s really good stuff. Curiosity. Ambition. Progression. Improvement. Upgrades. Adventure. All of these things are triggered by uncertainty. Uncertainty, and not knowing what we are doing with our lives, drives us forward.
Think about this. To know exactly what you are doing with your life requires a complete, big picture view and understanding. A precise plan that you develop and then live to the letter. This might sound good, but if you did somehow realise this seemingly marvellous scenario, it’d kill all spontaneity. Your ‘gut’ and the things it tells you to do based on what you feel – right now – as a result of any unique and unexpected encounter or experience would be redundant. And how boring would that be?
What I am suggesting – loud and proud – is that not knowing what you’re doing with your life is better than knowing exactly what you are doing with your life. But if you are still not convinced – do these two things. Just to reinforce your masochistic credentials! First, pop onto social media and take a look at all those people storytelling how they actually do know what they are doing with their lives. Second, be daft enough to think that what you are seeing and being told is a complete and unpolished version of their life. And there you go. You’ve reinforced what you want to believe, rather than what is actually true. Remember, if social media lived on traditional, old-school tv, instead of the internet, it’d not be on a documentary channel. It’d be on a fictional drama channel. Yes, it looks nice. And it can be entertaining and fun. But it’s almost never completely true.
Here’s The Real Reason You Feel Like You Don’t Know What You Are Doing With Your Life.
The real reason you sometimes feel like you don’t know what you are doing with your life is simple. It’s because you are between two milestones. First, you are moving away from what you used to want, but no longer do. Second, you are moving towards the evolving outline of what you want next. You are changing. You are evolving. You are growing. And thank goodness for that. All you have to do is focus more on your journey. Enjoy it. Instead of just craving the destination you have in your head, or worst still, craving the fictitious destination someone on social media is pretending that they have right now. Embrace your hunger. Learn to love the fact that you are restless, in a nice way though, not a desperate way. Life is good! And you are lucky that you can face or create opportunity and make decisions as you-go.
Each morning, if you like, just ask yourself a simple question. Ask yourself what you want. And see how your answers evolve. See how your answers move with your mood. With your experience. And remind yourself when this happens that, if you did have everything planned out perfectly and permanently, there’d be no room for the newer you, with your new ideas and approaches. And what a terrible shame that would be.
So if today, tomorrow or next week, that feeling of not knowing what you are doing with your life washed over you once more – congratulations! Let’s see where that feeling takes you next.
