How to Navigate Life’s Big Question? -

I recently found myself asking one of life’s biggest question, what do I do with my life? As a 30 something year old, who just recently moved across the United States, learning a new city, trying to find new friends, and make herself known in business I found that my mind kept wandering to this question… Today I wanted to share with you how mindfulness has helped me find my own path on how to navigate life’s big question; what do I do with my life?

Why Did This Question Come Up?

I am a firm believer that when life feels solid you tend to not question things. Why would you? Both of your feet are on solid ground, you feel stable, and there might be a sense of ease because everything is going according to “plan”.

So what happens when everything around you suddenly changes? For most of us, we tend to start questioning everything…

What should I do with my life? How do I find my purpose? How to figure out what to do with my life? What career is right for me? How do I choose the right path in life? How do I find my passion? What is the meaning of life? How do I know if I’m on the right path? What are my options after high school/college? How do I make life decisions?

Sound familiar… Don’t feel bad, I too have asked myself some of these exact questions more or less. What that means, is first and foremost you are not alone in this. When things change our stress levels increase and this wave of anxiety tends to start coming up with different situations in our head to “plan” for “what could be”.

How to navigate life's big question: what do I do with my life and how mindfulness can help.

Take A Breath

Our brains going into the three P’s: panic, prevention, and planning mode… Our sympathetic nervous system has kicked in and in order to find a sense of steadiness we need to slow down. Mindful breathing is an incredible way to trigger our parasympathetic nervous system to translate to our body that we are okay.

There are many variations of breathing techniques that you can use to calm the bodies nervous system.

Belly Breathing or Diaphragmatic Breathing

Box Breathing

Alternative Nostril Breathing

Counting

Each technique is essentially doing the same thing, it is intentionally bringing your attention to your breath (the present moment) and actively slowing down your breath (activates your ACh hormone to stimulate your PNS) .

Shifting The Question

Once you have brought your body to a sense of stillness and ease you can start to shift the question from what do I do? to what makes me happy? How can I bring fulfillment in my life? What do I know?

Life is a process, which means we have to let go of the idea of controlling things that we can’t and instead focusing on the things that we can. What do you know to be true about you? Take time to reflect without seeking an answer, because you may not get one. If I am being honest you may never know, but I am not sure you are supposed to.

What I can say is start small and bring yourself back to a state of stillness and presence. Mindfulness allows you to gain clarity, explore curiosity in a way that is free from judgement. If you still find yourself in a heightened state I have added in a little free audio mindfulness exercise to walk your through.