Do you ever feel lost in your everyday life?

I’ve been lost before – lost in the grocery store as a kid, lost at the department store; I’ve been lost driving through Detroit and Columbus, Ohio; lost running around Bismarck (North Dakota); I undertook my basic training for the US Army at a place that was nicknamed “Fort Lost in the Woods”. I have been lost in the woods before, and I’m often lost in thought. Recently, I wrote about a time when I was lost in my woes. I’ve been lost, gotten lost, lost my mind and my way, and felt the bitter sting of loss.

So here’s a question: do we ever really know where we are?

Think about it: we’re constantly tripping and catching ourselves in life – never quite sure-footed, but always somewhere on the spectrum that describes the state of management of the many elements of our lives.

We are living, breathing, hyper-threading processors – never truly multitasking, but seeming always to exist under this ever-changing set of parallel tasks in conditions that no matter how stable they seem, could change in a blink, leaving us adrift and needing to recalculate the next few moves.

So in a way, we are always seeking a path – never quite found, never fully lost; but somewhere in between.

In a way, I think I’ve always been somewhat lost – distracted from where I meant to be. It feels like someday I will be found living with my family on some northern coast, but where exactly? Alaska? Oregon? New England? Scotland? How about Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Is this a primal call back to my ancestral home, or some sort of mild mid-life condition? Inside I seem to crave the cool, coastal air; the ocean’s salty spray, white noise that comes not from traffic, planes, or trains but from nature herself – not the placebo but the real deal.

I feel like I need that; Mme. Ross and I talked about it and we’re planning a move next year that probably will not happen. Call it a “what if” plan. But it will happen eventually; this way, when it does we will be ready.

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This post was prompted by this week’s What If? Writing Challenge. What if you gave it a go?

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