The Unknown Path

The Holistic Journey | August 3, 2023

Welcome the feeling of being lost.

Embrace the phase of being adrift, when your mind and body aren’t connected.

It’s that state of walking an unknown path that foreshadows the largest developments.

Before creation, there must come destruction.

Before clarity must come confusion.

Realize that there’s polarity in everything.

The confused to the unconfused.

The destruction to the creation.

The masculine to the feminine.

The yin to the yang.

It’s simply how life works. Yet, nothing is permanent.

You feeling lost isn’t permanent.

You having absolute clarity isn’t permanent.

The feeling of being lost usually comes right after we accomplish our big goals, or after a highly stressful event in our life - such as moving to a different environment.

It’s all due to the intensity of the situation beforehand.

Burnout

For me, this was starting and failing my youtube channel.

I was super stoked to start it and I had all these video ideas just flowing, I had clarity over what I wanted to create.

A few months in, I was at 250 subscribers and I felt great! Progress was being made every day, shorts were being posted here and there. But, the long-form videos took a while to edit.

So what did I do? Hire an editor obviously!

You could see how that turned out - Completely wrong.

The guy I was supposed to hire bailed out on me, and I suppose I can take some blame in the situation as well.

At that point I was burnt out.

Dedicating 6-8 hours a day to editing a video just wasn’t for me.

So I took it all down, and quit the youtube channel (temporarily).

When I tell you that I had no idea what to do.

I wasted so much time, day to day, endlessly consuming all this “self-help” content thinking that I was productive. Ultimately, I was just coping with my feeling of lostness.

The Art Of Feeling Lost

After being lost for so long, everything starts to seem so mundane.

Normal conversation gets boring.

Sometimes you don't even have the motivation to go to the gym.

This is a dangerous phase that many people find themselves in.

There's no ambition.

There's no goals.

No nothing.

But I assure you my friend, this phase will not last.

Life is like a book, it unfolds in chapters.

And to your advantage, you’re just ending the current chapter and about to start a new one..

It’s just that you can’t end the current chapter without realizing that there’s more to read.

You have to realize that there is a next point - a next chapter for you to unfold.

I discuss this more in my free journaling guide.​

The Power Of Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness is key when you’re in a rut.

It’s the ability to know:

• Your goals
• Your ambitions
• Your mental state
• Your current phase in life

Exploring your interests (or non-interests) is the catalyst to clarifying your goals.

But there is a catastrophic problem in all of this:

Most people are not self-aware.

Most people have no idea what goals to push themselves towards.

And as you know…

If you don’t have your own goals, society assigns goals for you to follow.

Now you don’t want to pursue someone else’s goals right?

This is why you need to create a meaningful goal for yourself. (Read You need to create a vision)​

The way to do that when you have no idea what to do in the first place is simple.

Do anything and everything that you possibly can.

This way, you can see what you’re interested in and not-interested in.

Finding what you’re interested in gives you inklings of definition on what you want to do.

On the contrary, finding what you’re not interested in gives you definition on what you don’t want to do.

At that point, it’s all up to you to navigate the fog and find where it clears in the middle.

That’s your ambition.

Getting Out Of A Rut

Now that you have clarity on your ambition...

It's time to form a plan.

Follow this 5-step evergreen framework

1. Realize your goal, your current purpose in a sense. (this doesn’t have to stay permanent)
2. Set a deadline - One that’s not unrealistic, yet one that will challenge you and push you everyday. Make sure the deadline is demanding enough that you don’t get complacent.
3. Generate a sequence of systems. Habits and actions everyday that lead to lever-moving tasks being accomplished, bringing you one step to your goal.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you’ve accomplished this goal.
5. Feel lost after you’ve accomplished your goal, read the newsletter from start to bottom again - Rinse and repeat process (this will probably happen)

It genuinely is that simple.

Gain clarity → Realize your goal → Identify problems that hinder you from actualizing your goal → Create systems, daily habits and actions that help you accomplish that said goal –> Accomplish goal.

Me and you, and everyone else are driven by goals.

Whether you realize it or not, humans are goal driven creatures.

What was your goal when you opened up this newsletter? You were probably curious about what it meant to “Embrace The Unknown Path (how to get out of a rut)”

How about whenever you speak to someone? You’re chasing the goal of:

• A. Genuinely making them feel better as a person
• B. Strengthening your relationship
• C. Value exchange (quid pro quo)

That’s simply how we are. You shouldn’t feel ashamed about yourself for it.

It all depends on the lens you look at it from, your ability to zoom out and realize that in the end, everyone has a purpose for doing what they do - It’s just that some people aren’t conscious about it and that’s what leads them down the rabbit hole of feeling lost.

Ending it there.

Thanks for sticking through it.

Have a great rest of your week.

—Ethan P.

If you're interested in my stuff, make sure to check out 👇

---

FREE PRODUCTS & GUIDES

​The Holistic Journey Past Letters​

Flow Guide

Journaling Guide

Mental Mastery Guide

---