I don't know what to do...These are seven very difficult words for us to say.It doesn't feel safe to admit it.It is vulnerable and scary to be in that place.We're expected to know what to do.People depend on us and depend on us knowing what to do.We feel we let everyone down when we don't know what to do.Yet when we admit it, it can bring us to a new place.A place of authenticity.A place of courage.A place of peace.Because when we admit, we find out something surprising.We're not the only ones.There are lots of other people who don't know what to do.What to say.Where to go.And from that place of vulnerability we find connection.We find comfort.We find that we're not alone.When we open up and freely express that we're in an unfamiliar place in our lives, that we're lost and scared, the very thing we need in that moment shows up.Other people.People who want to be there for us.Not to do anything for us.Not to fix it and make it better.But just to be present with us.To hold our hand.To let us know that they feel the same way.And with this connection comes relief.Because now we know that we're not alone.In fact, there are lots of people out there who feel the same way.And they appreciate our openness.Our rawness.Our ability to express that we don't know what to do.They can empathize.They can relate.We all feel that way sometime.We all find ourselves in unfamiliar situations.Without a compass.Without a map.Stuck in a place that we don't know how to get out of.And when we admit it the magic happens.People show up and say "Me too."And somehow, through some unknown force, we feel better.Just knowing that there is someone else there.Who feels as lost as we do.And by them just being there we no longer feel quite as lost.And perhaps, just maybe, we find our way out together...
~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant