- “lost in thoughts” 🌜
I sit with a cup of tea and it gets cold. Not because I'm busy, but because I'm elsewhere. My body is at the table, but my mind is in a conversation from three years ago, rewriting what I should have said. Then suddenly, I'm in a future that hasn't happened yet - imagining the worst for an exam that is months away. A song. A face. A regret. A dream. One thought holds the hand of another and takes me far.
Psychology calls it mind-wandering. But for us, it feels heavier than that.
Sometimes, being lost is beautiful. While the professor is talking about the corporate veil, you are building your own dance studio in your head - choosing the colour of the curtains, the playlist, the students. That daydream feels more alive than the lecture itself.
Sometimes, it’s painful. At 2 AM, thoughts don’t knock. They enter like a crowd. What if I fail? What if they don’t like me? Why did I say that? Same thoughts, on loop. You are awake, but you are not living. You are just... thinking.
We are the only creatures who can time-travel like this. A dog lives in the now. We live in yesterday and tomorrow at the same time. That is our gift and our punishment.
But maybe we need to get lost. No artist, no dancer, no writer ever created something without first getting lost inside. You can't choreograph a new step without getting lost in the music. You can't find a new path without losing the old one.
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The problem is not getting lost. The problem is forgetting to come back. Forgetting the tea in front of you. Forgetting the person right in front of you. Forgetting the present, which is the only thing that's real.
So what to do? Don’t fight your thoughts. Just watch them. Like clouds. Let them come. Let them go. Just whisper to yourself “Ah, I’m lost again." That noticing itself is the way back.
And if you find someone you can get lost with someone who listens to your endless overthinking without ever saying "you think too much" - keep them.
In the end, we're all a little lost.
Some of us are just better at pretending we know the way.
Man is not only lost in the world, but also within himself. Physical lostness can be solved with a map, but mental lostness has no map.
Being lost in thoughts is different from thinking. Thinking is purposeful and directed towards a solution. Being lost in thoughts is an aimless flow of mind wandering between past and future.
It has two sides. On the positive side, it is the source of creativity. An artist or dancer must get lost in imagination to create something new. On the negative side, excessive wandering leads to anxiety, stress and lack of concentration, especially at night when thoughts loop around fear and regret.
Humans have the unique ability to time-travel mentally, living in memories and future worries simultaneously. While this ability makes us creative, it also takes us away from the present.
The solution is not to suppress thoughts, but to observe them through mindfulness. To notice when we are lost and gently bring ourselves back to the present moment. Being lost is natural, but learning to return is essential for mental well-being.
