How To Know When You Are On The Wrong Path

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Abstract

make changes.It’s difficult to recognize when you’re on the wrong path because it’s easier to keep going than to make changes. You’ll be worried about being successful doing something else. You’ll be worried about money, about how people see you.In short, you will want to look away.I’ve been there and I’ve seen many others there. The good news is that there are signs that tell you when you are on the wrong path.Like the warning light in your car that tells you the oil needs checking or the tires are low, your life has warning signs. You can address those warning signs when the light starts blinking or you can deal with the consequences when the car breaks down.Those signs come in many forms. You’ll get migraines or back pain or stomach problems. You’ll have physical problems that doctors can’t diagnose or medicate away. You’ll behave in ways that hurt yourself like drinking, spending, or eating too much. Your credit card balances and your weight might balloon. You get careless and have accidents. Relationships suffer as you avoid your friends and family. In short, important things go wrong.These ailments and problems look unrelated to anything specific at first. You might chalk them up to bad luck or not chalk them u

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p to anything. But they are signals about how you’re doing. They are signs you should pay attention to.Do not look away.It’s only when you wake up to the fact that you are not satisfied with the way you are spending your life that you can make changes.But what happens when you’ve been doing the “wrong” thing for 10 or 20 years or more? At first, you don’t know what else to do. If you knew a better path, you’d have done it.<blockquote id="bf26">“We’re not lost. We’re just headed somewhere different.” ― Emily X.R. Pan, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/51583878">The Astonishing Color of After</a></blockquote>So you are stuck. You are lost. But this is part of getting somewhere better.For the first time in your life, you may realize that all that busyness may have been productive in some ways, but it was destructive in others. The destructive part was the critical part. The destructive part was bad for the deepest part of you — the part that needs purpose and meaning to thrive.If the warning signs are blinking, don’t ignore them. They can be a blessing if you are open to seeing them. You may be stuck for now, but that’s okay. It’s better to be stuck than to be going the wrong way.</article></body>

And embrace being lost so you find a better way

Feeling lost or stuck and not knowing what to do next can sometimes be a good thing. When is it good? It’s good when you realize that the direction you were going in has not been serving you in important ways.

Let’s say you are a hungry, ambitious CEO who sells widgets to Deal Mart. You’re working 14 hours a day and every minute of every day you know exactly what your next move is. You’re busy as hell, making your widgets and getting them out the door. This is the opposite of feeling stuck.

Are you enjoying yourself? Do you feel good? Are your relationships and your health going well? If so, you are on the right path. Keep going.

If it turns out, though, that while you are busy, you are miserable; if the work feels empty or worse — soul-crushing — you’ll get information that can help you make changes.

It’s difficult to recognize when you’re on the wrong path because it’s easier to keep going than to make changes. You’ll be worried about being successful doing something else. You’ll be worried about money, about how people see you.

In short, you will want to look away.

I’ve been there and I’ve seen many others there. The good news is that there are signs that tell you when you are on the wrong path.

Like the warning light in your car that tells you the oil needs checking or the tires are low, your life has warning signs. You can address those warning signs when the light starts blinking or you can deal with the consequences when the car breaks down.

Those signs come in many forms. You’ll get migraines or back pain or stomach problems. You’ll have physical problems that doctors can’t diagnose or medicate away. You’ll behave in ways that hurt yourself like drinking, spending, or eating too much. Your credit card balances and your weight might balloon. You get careless and have accidents. Relationships suffer as you avoid your friends and family. In short, important things go wrong.

These ailments and problems look unrelated to anything specific at first. You might chalk them up to bad luck or not chalk them up to anything. But they are signals about how you’re doing. They are signs you should pay attention to.

Do not look away.

It’s only when you wake up to the fact that you are not satisfied with the way you are spending your life that you can make changes.

But what happens when you’ve been doing the “wrong” thing for 10 or 20 years or more? At first, you don’t know what else to do. If you knew a better path, you’d have done it.

“We’re not lost. We’re just headed somewhere different.” ― Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Color of After

So you are stuck. You are lost. But this is part of getting somewhere better.

For the first time in your life, you may realize that all that busyness may have been productive in some ways, but it was destructive in others. The destructive part was the critical part. The destructive part was bad for the deepest part of you — the part that needs purpose and meaning to thrive.

If the warning signs are blinking, don’t ignore them. They can be a blessing if you are open to seeing them. You may be stuck for now, but that’s okay. It’s better to be stuck than to be going the wrong way.