“I don’t know what to do.”

A phrase often uttered from the lips. A phrase often echoed in the mind.

Life is full of transitions and next steps. You are either moving forward onto something new, or you’re moving sideways onto something else. But you are never moving backwards even if you experience failure.

This gap of uncertainty in life welcomes room for questioning and self-doubt. Can you think of a time when you felt uncertain about a decision, next step, or change in your life path? Maybe that time has passed and you made the decision, maybe it’s coming up, maybe it’s now.

As I walk closer to the finish line of my second university degree, I am just like many other students who are questioning if the next step they are taking forward is the right one.

We can all relate to this uncertainty in some capacity whenever a new opportunity arises or when we get tired of something stagnant in our life. Before we make the decision to transition onto the next step we often overthink, worry, and hesitate – we are afraid of making the wrong decision and worry too much about the outcome.

I am slowly learning that the “correct” answer is always within you. You have the capacity to answer the questions of uncertainty, because all you have to do is be still.

When I’ve fallen into the trap of self-doubt or periodic questioning, I always lean toward the wise words of Oprah Winfrey:

“When you don’t know what to do, be still until you do know, because nobody knows but you. Nobody knows for you, only you know the path to your own truth. The reason you ask everybody else is because you’re scared of your own answer.” – Oprah Winfrey

Your choice will never be wrong because even if you experience failure, you will learn from the struggle and continue forward with new knowledge, an experience and personal growth.

You know that old saying ‘trust your gut?’ Well that gut feeling is almost 99% right. This is how I look at things:

If you ask yourself, “in 10 years from now will I be disappointed if I didn’t try it?” If the answer is yes…then you have to go for it. You’ll be more disappointed in the “what if” than the “what was.” You’d be more disappointed in choosing NOT to take a risk, because you’ll continue to carry that underlying feeling of wondering the “what if?”

Life transitions are normal. Uncertainty it normal. Self- doubt is normal.

But you always know the answer to phrases similar as “I don’t know what to do.” You know what to do, you just have to find the answer within yourself. You just have to be still. ☺️

– Liv

Featured photo by Renato Andrade Fernandes on Unsplash