The Secret To Growth When You're Lost in the Fog

There’s a particular kind of restlessness that shows up for most of us, at one point in life.  Not the dramatic, storm-the-castle kind of urge for reinvention— but a quieter, nagging pressure under the ribs.

I know this feeling intimately.

Many years ago, when I was still an executive recruiter—seemingly at the height of my career—I started to sense a subtle shift inside me. To the observer on the outside, I had a dream career. But on the inside, something started feeling, well… differently.

Nothing was wrong, exactly. But something wasn’t fully right, either.

It showed up in small moments—while taking a break between back-to-back interviews; in the quiet moments on a plane on my way to another fashion conference;  before walking into another high-stakes client meeting.

I’d catch myself thinking:

"Something feels off. Why doesn’t this feel as good as it looks from the outside? Is this what I have been working so hard to achieve all these years? There’s gotta be more… but what?"

It wasn’t burnout. It also wasn’t dissatisfaction with the work itself. It was a sense that I was outgrowing a role, a rhythm, an identity— without yet knowing what I was growing toward.

And that’s where so many people freeze: wanting a change, but having no clarity about what the change is.

Today’s edition is about that courage: the Courage to becoming the next version of yourself.

The Core Insight

Most of us believe courage only becomes relevant after clarity arrives. After the plan is made, the identity is named, the vision is clear.

But that’s backwards.

One of the most courageous acts is allowing yourself to move BEFORE you have a new map. Because not knowing feels deeply uncomfortable. As humans, we crave certainty and definition. Naming things makes us feel safe—anchored, rooted.

So when something inside you begins shifting and you can’t articulate it yet, it creates friction:

• You can’t justify it.

• You can’t explain it.

• You can’t plan around it.

• You can’t measure it.

But the absence of clarity isn’t a failure. It’s evidence that your inner landscape is reorganizing itself—and your mind simply hasn’t caught up yet.

You often evolve internally long before you can explain what’s happening. Clarity usually arrives after the growth.

And while we wait for certainty, we unknowingly stall our own growth, our development, our evolution. We tell ourselves we can’t start until we know exactly what we want.

But clarity rarely arrives fully formed. It emerges through participation with life—through trying, noticing, adjusting, stopping what no longer fits, and following threads that seem insignificant but turn out to be everything.

Clarity isn’t what you wait for. It’s what you cultivate.

The Courage Shift

When you embrace this phase with courage, instead of resisting it, everything changes.

• You stop treating uncertainty as a problem and start treating it as a process.

• You release the pressure to articulate what isn’t ready to be named.

• You realize you can move—gently, quietly—without a full plan.

• You start trusting that your desire for “more” is meaningful, even if undefinable.

• You reclaim your power by taking aligned action instead of waiting for permission from clarity.

The shift is this: You no longer see the unknown as a void. You see it as a corridor. A corridor you walk with courage—not because you’re certain, but because you’re becoming.

Practical Tools for the Season of Not Knowing

1. Name the Dissatisfaction Without Demanding the Solution

Describe the quality of what feels off:

• “I feel underutilized.”

• “I feel disconnected.”

• “I feel like I’m performing instead of expressing.”

You don’t need to know what you want—just what no longer fits.

2. Follow the Small Energies

Big clarity often hides inside tiny sparks:

• A conversation that leaves you lit up

• A topic you keep Googling or reading about

• A project you lose track of time working on

Follow the breadcrumbs. They always lead somewhere real.

3. Subtract What You Know Isn’t It

Sometimes the fastest way to clarity is subtraction. If you remove one draining commitment, one suffocating pattern, one false “should,” you create space for what wants to emerge.

4. Ask Curiosity-Based Questions, Not Pressure-Based Ones

Replace: “What should I do with my life?” With: “What is pulling me forward right now?”

5. Allow the In-Between to Be a Valid Season

You’re not behind. You’re incubating.

A Courage Challenge

This week, subtract one thing you know isn’t aligned anymore. A commitment, a habit, a “should,” a piece of identity you’ve outgrown. Just one.

Removing what’s false is one of the fastest ways to reveal what’s true.

And remember: You don’t need to see the whole path to begin. You only need the courage to take the next honest step.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.