Elizabeth writes:

I’m experiencing path-fatigue. Sometimes I feel like we’re all in high school again, and some of the kids — the happy, shiny ones — know exactly what to do and where they are going, while others of us are just trying to navigate the rapids without getting too beat up, until we make it to the mouth of the river.

I hear you. It’s hard to be struggling under any circumstances, let alone struggling while others on the other side of the room are shining happily and making life look like a cakewalk. And it’s even harder to find the time and energy for something as huge as “finding your path” when it’s all you can do to keep your head above water.

But you know, not even those shiny, happy people know exactly what to do and where they’re going.

Some people have learned some tools and techniques. Some people have gained a bit of wisdom over the years. But nobody gets a map. Nobody knows what’s around the next bend in life. And everyone, everyone feels lost and adrift sometimes. Everyone, even the people who look like they’ve got it all figured out, feels like they’re stumbling around in the dark, afraid that today they’ll be exposed for the flawed, imperfect, uncertain human being they truly are.

When you compare yourself to others, you compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides.

You feel the sticky sweat on your palms. You feel your shoulders shrinking up. You feel the wibbly-wubbly feeling in the pit of your stomach.

You don’t feel the sweat on Seth Godin’s palms. You don’t feel Brene Brown’s shoulders shrinking up. You don’t feel the wibbly-wubbly feeling in the pit of Danielle LaPorte’s stomach.

But they all feel it. Whoever it is that you think has got all their shit together – that person sometimes still feels just as anxious as you, just as afraid as you, just as small as you.

When you compare your insides to other people’s outsides, you don’t see – you don’t feel – their internal wibbles and wubbles. Especially when you compare yourself to people who put a lot of effort into presenting themselves, like marketers or actors.

How to Navigate the Rapids – Option 1 (The Surface)

Even though the wibbles and wubbles never go away, it is possible to feel more clear and confident in life.

Learning how to hold healthy boundaries.

Learning how to make better decisions.

Surrounding yourself with people who support you in being the best you that you can be.

Knowing yourself in all your parts.

Aligning your life with your core values.

All these tools and techniques make your journey down the river much smoother.

And best of all, these aren’t secrets whispered in dark alleys by the legendary Awesome People. They’re available to you. They’re taught in books, in academies, in spiritual paths.

These are tools and techniques that you can start learning right now.

How to Navigate the Rapids – Option 2 (The Depths)

The other way to smoothify your journey down the river is to capsize your canoe.

To surrender.

To say, “I can’t do this alone,” and ask Spirit for help.

To dive beneath the swirling, churning rapids, down to the calm, peacefully flowing waters under the surface.

To find your peace not out in the world, but within your heart.

And best of all, this isn’t a secret whispered by a guru living in a cave on a mountaintop. This peace and clarity is available to you. It’s whispered on ever breath of the wind. It is the song of the stones, the music of the spheres.

Take a moment right now. Breathe.

And listen.