"Wait, How Did We Get Here?"

It’s hard to discover someplace new if you’ve never been lost, no? You’ll never talk to a travel guru who didn’t have a tale of humor, discovery, and revelation that didn’t begin with getting lost.

To be honest, the older I get, the more I realize it’s a necessity in life. But let’s be real – getting lost, in many facets is extremely uncomfortable. It’s unsettling. In many cases, it provokes feelings of fear – and even worse – failure.

The first time I remember getting lost alone, was when I was 20 years old, and I took the wrong bus to my first day of German class in Vienna (I look back at this as a complete walk in the park, truly the naivety of youth was getting the best of me). I remember getting off that bus, asking anyone and everyone – in horrific German – how to get back to central Vienna. I encountered helpfulness, rudeness, and complete ambivalence along the way. But eventually, one businessman had enough pity and English to send me in the right direction.

In this story, the right direction was not back to the German school. The next bus I took landed me in a bit of a hipster area of Vienna known for funky sweets shops and ice cream places. THIS was a cool area of Vienna, and definitely off the beaten track. But wait – hold on – crap. I was still lost. So I went into the first café that was open, asked for directions again, and was overheard by a young guy that was headed to the same exact school. I had found my people – my way (or rather a guy who knew his way)! I was saved – and in the process had found a new community and ambiance very much needed in my new city.

This story isn’t terribly interesting, but I do think it’s symbolic. Being lost will demand you begin asking questions of yourself – how did I get here? How do I get where I need to go? What’s the best way to get there? On a higher level, getting lost – both realistically and figuratively – is a stop-take-a-breath-moment. Think-think-think. Where did I go wrong? It’s self-reflection really, isn’t it? And we all know that self-reflection is messy, despairing, and exhausting. But somewhere along the way, it can lead to an epiphany from time to time. Or for the sake of this blog, and in my case, a ‘proiphany” (a professional epiphany– wait, can I coin that?).

What you’ll find from our team is that we didn’t arrive in the demanding but fascinating world of consultancy strategically. We came from an array of professional experiences – as many disempowering as empowering – that led to an unknown neighborhood in the north of Vienna where we kinda said, “Wait, how did we get here?”

Arriving somewhere not by choice can be confusing – even a bit dark. You question your instincts and abilities, and these are not light things for the soul. For me, its been an adventure – losing my way professionally – and if I’m honest, not always a fun one. Like that day in Vienna, I set out in one direction and arrived in another. But what I’ve learned is where I ended up wasn’t exactly a mistake.

So maybe you’re going through something similar – whether personally or even, perhaps, as a leader of an organization that you are wholly committed to. You know the organization has a purpose, but maybe you or it has lost its way. Here at GADEV, we’d tell you not to fret. This moment likely has purpose.

But it’s up to you what you do next. Can you step back? Reassess? Reflect? If so, it’s likely you already know the next step – the action step – will redefine this ‘getting lost’ moment for years to come. So if you can relate, but need help on this road – reach out. It’s only then that you may have a ‘proiphany’ as well – that moment you find your people and your way that heads exactly where you’re meant to go.

– Kelly