I’m in the middle of some reinventing right now in my own business. As I’ve said before, once a reinventer, always a reinventer. The status quo just isn’t engaging enough for me anymore.

I’ve reinvented a lot: for many years, and in many different areas of my life. I fancy myself as having been ‘around the bend’ a few times.

So, it’s amusing to note that I still find myself in Lostville from time to time in my own reinventions. Here I am, sitting on the couch, having booted myself out of my office, because I couldn’t stand the feeling of not knowing what to do next, or where I’m going, for one more minute. I guess what is even more amusing is that I’m surprised when I find myself here!

Because, if I have learned one thing about reinventing, it is that the feeling of being lost just comes with the territory.

One of my bravest and most adventurous reinventer clients called this week to report that she was feeling completely disoriented. She was in Lostville too. She was questioning herself, the choices she had made to reinvent, and above all, where she was going.

I can relate this feeling, and I’m sure that any of you who have reinvented or are currently reinventing can relate to it too.

It feels like a quagmire. Often, it has you feeling like you are back at Square One. You’ve lost your confidence and orientation. Nothing seems to make sense anymore. It’s crazy-making!

And the first instinct is to jump in and create a map for where you are going. Or, grab someone else’s map for reinvention and use it. Anything to get out of the fog.

For my own reinventing, I was tempted to get on the web and look for guidance to tell me where to go and what to do next. I wanted a map. But I’m onto myself about this one by now, because I have tried that route many times before. It has only led me to more disorientation, because nothing seems to fit me or my situation, and I begin to feel worse. So I made myself sit on the couch a while longer.

The truth is twofold (at least). First, when you feel completely lost in the middle of a reinvention, it’s a good thing. It may feel bad at first, but it causes you to search your heart again, more deeply, to clarify what you really really want and what you are really really committed to, whole-heartedly. And when you tune into that, you have aligned with the true path for you, and then what you are to do next will become clear.

Secondly, you don’t need a map, you need a compass. While it is tempting to think that all would be well if you had a map, and you could see the destination and the whole route, the truth is if you had that, you would miss the adventure of the journey. All is well right now, without a map.

When you think of yourself in your car traveling at night, you can only see a couple of hundred feet down the road, the distance that your car’s headlights illuminate the road for you. That is all you need to go anywhere.

It’s like that with a reinvention. You only need to see the next step clearly. Then, when you take that step, you will have a lot of information and feedback that you didn’t have before, to inform your next move.

But what guides you into the next step when you feel like you’re in a patch of fog?

Your compass is your inner guidance, and it will tell you literally what to do when you get up in the morning, if you will let it. (And if you make clear space to hear it, as I wrote about in my last blog post.)

So, I sat on the couch and went back to the question: What do I really want?

I always have a tinge of the ’scaries’ when I ask myself that question, because what if I don’t like the answer? Or, what if the answer causes me to see that the last 15 steps I took were off track and I need to retrace my steps back a ways to find the true path for me?

Both of those things have happened to me in my reinventions, but when they did, I eventually found joy and fulfillment the likes of which I could never have imagined. And, most of the time that isn’t what happens.

What usually happens is that I find that the reason I was feeling lost is that I had strayed temporarily off of my own true path, and that is why I was feeling bad. I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. Or, I was trying to skip a few steps ahead of what I was ready for. Or, I had temporarily grabbed someone else’s map and tried to use it.

Once I cleared some space to ask myself the question, and was willing for whatever the answer was to be ok, I got the clarity I needed. It just felt right, unlike the prior couple of hours. I knew it was the right answer for me, for now.

And for my client? We settled into the unknown and trusted that the chaos would lead us somewhere, and through it all we discovered what she really needed right then. Which is, truly, all you ever need to know.

Both her experience and mine reinforced for me the wisdom in trusting where you are right now, even if you are feeling lost. Just be present to what is right now, and quit fighting it or expecting it to be something it isn’t. Learn what it has to teach you, and it will inform your next move.

START HERE.

Action: The next time you are feeling lost in the middle of your reinvention, stop. This may feel like the last thing you want to do, but try it. Ask yourself what you really want. Make some clear space to hear your true voice. Use your compass. Let it tell you what you need and what just the next step is. Then trust it, if it feels right to you, even if it doesn’t ‘make sense’.

Insight: What’s it like when you let it be ok to feel lost?

Filed under: Your Map, Your Compass, Being a Reinventer, Survival Tactics on March 13th, 2007