Why Do I Feel So Lost In Life?  3 Reasons + 5 Fixes

“Why do I feel so lost in life” is not only a common question.  But it’s truly a universal question since the dawn of man.

How do I know this? 

Because to follow or not to follow God has been an issue man has grappled with since the beginning of time. Just ask Adam and Eve.

In the following post I offer three main reasons why you feel lost in life.   Which actually happen to be interconnected.  And then I explain five ways that you can fix the anxiety associated with this feeling of disarray in your life.

You Feel Lost In Life Because Of Fear 

Naturally, feeling lost in life is a negative feeling.  And negative feelings usually denote fear.  So dig deep into what you are afraid of.  Try to think deeply and be specific about what’s disturbing you.  

When I felt lost in life my fear of not being able to provide for my family was crippling.  I couldn’t sleep.  And I was definitely losing hair quickly, I thought.

Now that I look back, I realize that I had no fundamental direction to how I was living.  I was just (like many) going with the societal flow.

Today I am happy to say that after a long journey through education and faith, I badly overestimated the severity of my plight.

My big takeaway was: fear takes over when you don’t know how things work. Especially when those things you don’t know are the ultimate issues of life.  Namely, how to navigate a highly material world overly focused on the physical and very little on the spiritual.

Needless to say, it took me a while to get to the bottom of the “why do I feel lost in life” question but my take is…knowledge is power.  So get going in understanding the root of your fear.

Mine was a spiritual issue.  Deep, deep, deep down so is everyone else’s.  Please read on and find out how…

You Feel Lost In Life Because Of A Broken Identity 

Feeling lost in life can also be an identity issue.

Like most people, you probably have built your identity unconsciously.  By letting the many influences throughout your life shape you into what you are today.

Whether it’s the opinions of your parents, friends or teachers, all of these external forces have an impact on your identity.

Well….guess what?  

An identity built on the opinions of your surrounding influences is extremely fragile. Especially if the main influencers of your identity are steeped in a secular society.  Feeling lost or having a “broken identity” at some point in your life will be inevitable, if this is the case.

This was the case at some point in my life when I thought my identity was being a workaholic, career first dude.  That’s definitely where my influences steered me.  Not the greatest stage of my life.

The first thing to do is to become aware of how your identity has been shaped.  Then actively work to strengthen your identity so that it is shatter-proof.  

And this can only be achieved by understanding the truth about the life you’re living.  By getting a better look of the bigger picture surrounding your life.

And that is exactly what God’s influence and messages have provided in my life.  A better understanding of reality and my true identity within it.

Which leads to the third and most consequential reason why you might feel lost in life…

You Feel Lost In Life Because Of A Lack Of Connection To God

Ultimately, this is the most important factor why ANYONE may feel lost in life.  Having a healthy awareness of the role the Creator plays in your life is the key to putting fears and a vulnerable identity…in-check.

This is how it works.

Understand that you are a soul, primarily, encased in a physical body.

It is through your soul that a piece/spark of God resides within you. And why it says in (Genesis 1:27) that you are created in His image.  Your soul is your connection to God.

This means whether you are a believer or not, you are perpetually connected to your Creator. That is a fact of your existence.

An apt analogy would be, if God were the sun, you would be akin to a ray of that sun.

The problem is…this connection to your Maker can be muted or flat-out denied by you.  

You can become separated from God in YOUR MIND by the type of beliefs you hold.  Or by the type of lifestyle you engage in. 

And if this is the case — you guessed it — sooner or later, your understanding of reality can become confused or muddled.

In essence, the farther you stray from your inherent godly nature, the more unclear your perspective will be about life.  In other words, asking “why do I feel lost in life” is a normal reaction to having a certain level of disconnection from your original life SOURCE.

5 Fixes To Feeling Lost In Life

To restate: You feel lost in life because there’s a conflict between who you truly are.  A soul.  A ray of the sun.  An earthly representative of your Creator.

And what this world has led you to believe you are.  Or led you to represent yourself as.  

You then intuit this disconnection from your true godly nature as “feeling lost in life.”

Therefore, the key to fixing your sense of “disarray” in life is reaffirming your connection with God.

You can start to find yourself by internalizing the following:

• Increase Your Awareness of God — Realize that as “the ray of the sun” that you are — you yourself are not the source of your “powers.”  You are not self contained or autonomous.  You are not kind. You are not giving.  You are not loving…etc. Attributes such as these are the essence of who God is.  That means that when you engage in these forms of expression you are, in a sense, a mere representative of God’s values.  And thus your actions have the awesome effect of bringing God into our world.  Which means that when you act out God’s values, you make it a better world.  Now knowing this…how often do you witness the essence of God in your daily life?(I think about this constantly in my daily interactions with my family)….Understanding this concept should go a long way to increasing your awareness and connection to God.

• Be Grateful — You can’t connect to God without having a spirit of gratitude. If you acknowledge that God is the Creator of all, then be grateful to the All-Almighty for all the blessings in your life.  True appreciation for someone profoundly strengthens the relationship. 

• Fake It, Till You Awake It — Now that you’ve become more aware of God in your life — take action!  Gradually work to align your beliefs and actions with that of your TRUE godly nature.  Even if you have to fake it at first, proceed to increasingly act in ways that “bring God into our world.”  And if you consistently “fake” bringing God’s values into our world you’ll eventually awaken your godly “spark” permanently.  

• Fake It, Till You Awake It…Part two — Specifically work to find an activity that makes you feel closer to God.  I thought about this after I wrote the previous entry.  I love the feeling of closeness to God that writing this material brings into my soul.  I discovered this inadvertently at the beginning stages of the writing process.  You can have this same effect with anything you do. Your actual job. Charity work. Or being a parent.  As long as you understand who’s the ultimate power behind all the good that you do.

• Newsflash!!!……Study God’s Word — Pretty self-explanatory.  Nothing brought me in relationship with God quicker than trying to understand biblical concepts.  I searched and I learned — learned and searched.  Looking back at it now, it seems like God was taking me by the hand from source to source until I satisfied my “feeling of being lost in life” thoroughly. That did wonders for me.

Conclusion 

The main reason why you feel lost in life is disconnection from your innate godly nature.  You walk around unconscious of this fact. Heck, most of humanity does as well.

The first step is to accept this reality of our world.  The next step is to make you conscious that you are already permanently connected to God through your godly spark(your soul).  

The thing to do next is feel connected by acting like it.  Behave in ways that bind your soul to THE SOUL OF SOULS. God Almighty.

And here’s where you proceed to remove many of the mental barriers a secular worldview has steered you to.  Those only mute your connection.

The end product?

A pristine connection where “feeling lost in life” will become an afterthought.  Why? Because a relationship with your Maker means instant understanding of a bigger picture.  

It supplies your life with the meaning and purpose to never again fall flat on your face from thoughts of “feeling lost in life.”

Peace,

~J