Let Yourself Be Lost

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

In the wake of announcing my yearlong existential experiment, I have received so many remarkable messages from you guys. Many of you do not feel comfortable leaving comments here on the blog, and I completely understand and respect that. In your notes, so many of you have said one thing (without actually saying it, of course).

What you have said: I am a bit lost. I am an adult and I am supposed to have this life thing figured out, but I don't really. I am a bit lost.

And of course this resonates. Because that is what this is all about, this very blog, this very project, these very words. Being lost. Feeling lost. And once upon a time, I saw these as bad things, shameful things, being lost, feeling lost. I thought these were things to tuck away, to hide. Now. Now I realize what a smart man named Thoreau realized long ago; We must be lost in order to begin to understand ourselves.

Now. The reality is that not all of us are interested in understanding ourselves. But I am. And, given all of your comments and emails, given all of your wonderful and raw and real words, so are many of you.

I will say these words to my girls one day. When they are ready to hear them.

Let yourself be lost.