How Two Boring Sentences Helped Me Stop Feeling Lost
A story about navigating uncertainty and living the questions.
“Can I be frank?”
The lady across from me looked up from the forms in her hand and peeked over the half-moon glasses that throned on her pointy nose. I stared at her like a deer caught in headlights, petrified. After an awkward silence, she allowed herself to proceed.
“You seem a little…”
Oh no, please don’t say it, I thought while she searched for the right word to describe my resume. Please don’t say it. Our eyes locked. Please don’t say —
“…lost.”
I slumped deeper into my chair. Lost. Thank you very much. I’d sought out career counseling for encouragement, direction, and answers. But instead, my advisor injected insecurity into my veins.
“Believe me,” she said, “becoming a writer is risky. It rarely works out. Hasn’t worked out for me, either.” She then suggested that I should follow “career trends” and do something “reasonable.”
After the session, I felt dizzy. As if I’d lost the grounding beneath my feet. As if I’d entered a zone of zero gravity, lost in space and time.
