“I don’t know what I want to do”
How many times have we told ourselves that?
How long have we sat in the dark waiting for the lightbulb to go off and how much longer are we going to wait before we decide to get up and search for the switch? It’s so easy to get lost if we spend our life walking through a fog.
“Through awareness, clarity unfolds, purpose is defined and goals created.” – Eleesha
Sometimes it’s not a lack of motivation or a lack of goals that keeps us from moving forward but a lack of clarity. After all, it’s a lot harder to walk through mud than it is to swim in clear waters.
Everyone is in search of clarity at some point in their lives. How they go about it is a different story. Some take immediate action while others stay stuck in their heads hoping for that lightbulb moment. There’s nothing wrong with thinking things through but if we stay stuck in our heads for too long we end up suffering from analysis paralysis, wrapping ourselves up in a blanket of fear.
The trouble with fear is that it can surround us very quickly to the point where we become crippled by our own thoughts. It’s something we might never get out of unless we figure out how to embrace the mud until we get to clear waters.
The 3 Myths of Clarity
We need to know exactly what we want and how to get it before we make a move
If we all knew exactly what we wanted and how to get it, life would be so easy. But life’s not like that. It’s a constant maze that we need to navigate through. It’s so much easier to plot and plan every second of our lives than it is to just do something.
Anything.
We try to distract ourselves from taking any action because if we’re in “planning” mode, that counts as something right? We can’t plan for everything. Sometimes we just need to take that leap, knowing that our plan isn’t all encompassing.
It’ll hit us when we least expect it
And everything will be glorious and we’ll know exactly what to do next and the step after that. Sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not happening. We can spend our entire lives searching for clarity and never find the answer because we’re not actually searching. We’re waiting for that AHA moment to jump out at us before we take any action because, well, it’s scary to jump into the abyss of the unknown. But we can’t wait for something to happen because most likely nothing will happen if we’re just waiting.
You’re the only one feeling lost
Go to Google and type in “Feeling lost” or “Seeking clarity” and you could be reading for days on end. You are not the only one. It seems like everyone has it figured out but the truth is they’re hiding their confusion very well or they’re working through it. You are not the only who feels like you have no clear sense of direction in the world but you are the only one who can make a choice to wait for that AHA moment or to walk through the haze.
How To Take That First Step to Finding Clarity
Stop procrastinating
It is so easy to put things off nowadays – phone at our hip 24/7, Netflix binges, all types of social media. I know it’s so much easier to do those things than to take even the smallest step towards but it’s so important to take that first step. Ask yourself, “What can I do next?”. Not what you hope to accomplish in 10 years, but what can you realistically do next? Is it to write a paragraph? Paint a few strokes? Make up a new recipe? Whatever your goal is, take the first step towards it.
Stop comparing yourself to others
We need to stop comparing ourselves to others because once we do, we’re done for because “we’ll never get there”. But those who came before us serve as a foundation so we can build on top of them. They only got to where they are because they’ve had years and years of experience over you. Instead of comparing yourself to them, learn from them.
Drop those limiting beliefs
It can be hard to believe that you have something valuable to offer to the world when the world is so jam packed with books, blogs, songs, paintings. I know I felt that way when I started writing but what you have to offer is important, it matters. We’re not meant to walk silently on this earth.
Just pick an option already
Do you feel overwhelmed when you walk into a new restaurant and the menu has 100 different options to choose from? Just thinking about it makes my head hurt and that’s the same when we have backup plans for our backup plans especially when we’re not 100% sure about what to do yet. We feel safe with A-Z options. Narrow it down to your top 3 and choose the one that feels right to you at that time. Maybe it won’t work out but maybe it will.
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Clarity doesn’t come from standing still, it comes from taking small steps until we find a clearing. So if you’re lost and don’t know where to go, put one foot in front of the other and see where it takes you.
Originally published at possiblepursuits.com