Purpose

Feeling Lost in Life. Are You A Desert Dweller?

By Maurice Jenkens · 6 min read

Published August 13, 2026

Finding Your Way Back to Self-Trust and Purpose.

If you find yourself lost in life, stuck and walking around in the desert, wondering how you got there and how to get out of there, you will probably feel isolated, abandoned and increasingly desperate. You may question your life choices and the routes taken in life, possibly even with a large amount of regret. It takes energy having to live through the uncertainty of not knowing when this will end, when Life gives you a break, or when you finally find some water or fertile soil. If you find yourself there, lost in the desert and you want some help, then come to me.

What does it mean to walk in the desert?

You may have heard the metaphors of the Big Masters on Earth, like Jesus spending 40 days in the desert to “find answers”. Or the Biblical metaphors of having to go through a time of drought, lack and hunger, being forced to persevere to build character and come out stronger in the end. As the stories go, Jesus and other Masters chose the desert willingly. Elderly and wise Aboriginals did the same thing (a “walkabout”), choosing solitude in an empty environment to dig deep in themselves and find their answers.

My life in the desert: years of feeling lost

I know what it feels like to be there. I have been there for years. Feeling desperate, shouting to the stars, blaming my Lodestar, Life, God, myself, anyone and anything for my hardship. Ideas did not work, hot business deals went cold, initiatives went nowhere, attractive doors were slammed shut in my face.

The outer world seemed unfair and rigged against me. In the meantime, my inner world demanded my full attention. I needed to look at and dissolve old patterns, childhood traumas and inner psychological blockers. This too I felt was deeply unjustified, as I “had been working on myself” for so many years. Wasn’t I done? Hadn’t I deserved a little more luck and fortitude by now? Self-pity was my best friend during times of scorched earth. It was as if I was running fast in a dream: my legs moved, but somehow I was getting nowhere. Only endless desert. I genuinely know what it feels like to dig deep in myself, and then a little deeper.

What did I find? Self-trust and purpose

Self-trust. Gravity in myself. Confirmation of my Lodestar, my Northern Star, my Inner Guidance System. A better wired Intuitive Intelligence. Sharper. Clearer. More Stable under pressure. More trust in myself and, maybe equally important, more trust in Life itself. The belief, to the point of “knowing”, that Life wants me well.

What did I leave behind?

Maybe more important, I left behind some “nice entities” like self-doubt. Playing small. Feeling a victim. An old belief system of limitation, with limiting childhood patterns and a belief that Life was against me. That God (not the religious one, but the Universal name “God”) was not benevolent. Not on my side, but somehow my enemy, or somehow did not believe in me.

The main lesson: Letting Go

The one thing I got to “learn”, or to “practise”, was the art of letting go. The art of acceptance and “surrendering” to circumstances. Not to give up, mind you, but to give up the notion that you have to be in control. This is advanced stuff and it is NOT for everyone. I am not writing this out of a feeling of superiority, but out of a realised and lived insight.

Letting go goes against everything I was taught. But letting go does not mean: having no more goals in life, giving up on an idea, or not wanting to live anymore. It is about accepting that Life has its own ideas with you. And that fighting those ideas, or demanding a change in course, or speed, is probably futile.

Not-knowing is the purpose of it, so you can grow enough self-trust and trust in life to let go. I’ve got some desert time to practise it. Little did I know that this way of living has apparently been taught by Daoism for thousands of years…🙂 It is called Wu Wei, “effortless action”.

How do you hold up navigating uncertainty under stress? That is what The Black Swan Assessment™ tests.

You are not lost. And there is help

Apart from the good news that you actually are in the desert (which I see as proof that Life is getting serious with you), there will be an end to it. You are supposed to “find” something in this phase of your life. That could be, like for me: self-trust, purpose, acceptance, the capacity to surrender, overcoming fears. Or dropping limiting belief systems. It could be another business idea to be successful and fulfilled, the answer to a deeper question bothering you right now, or an insight about life choices in general. Or, I could argue, the biggest win of all… it could be “simply” to find peace with life.

Alone, or not alone?

Some parts of your desert walk you are supposed to do on your own. But there is no demand or need to do it all by yourself. If you need help with some coordinates, some relief, some water, the need to double-check, or even better, if you need help guiding yourself back to your own inner clarity, then I can help.

I help you find your inner Lodestar, your Northern Star, your place of inner knowing. And how to trust that part of you, especially when you are maxed out of your comfort zone. In essence, this is my core speciality. If you find yourself lost in the desert, then you come to me. Because I know how it is. And I also know how it is to come out on the other end, having peace with Life. There is gold to be found in that desert of yours and that is the opportunity Life offers you. Take it!

If this is you, or if you know someone who fits the bill… call me. If you want to read more on this, see here my work with How to find Your Purpose.

Maurice