Do you remember the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie in it? One of my favorite scenes from that film was when the maze walls started telling the main characters to turn back because they were going the wrong way.
It would be great if we received crystal-clear messages like that in real life, but alas, we don’t.
Instead of bright signs and talking masonry, we often just have vague feelings that give us clues as to what we should (or shouldn’t) be doing.
As such, if the following feelings keep repeating themselves, it’s likely your body and mind’s way of letting you know that your life is headed in the wrong direction.
1. That sinking feeling in your gut.
Most of us have experienced that lurching, sinking feeling in our guts when we were about to face something awful or anxiety-inducing.
If you’ve ever been on a rollercoaster, you’ll know it kind of feels like that.
Believe it or not, it’s both a physical and an emotional response: stress causes an adrenaline surge, which makes your body draw blood from your stomach and into your leg and lower back muscles.
It does this so you have the strength and energy to run away or fight if you need to.
Most people only experience this infrequently, such as when they see an incoming call from someone they love in the middle of the night, or if they lose track of their kid at a busy store.
But if your life is headed in absolutely the wrong direction, you may experience it on a regular basis. Essentially, your body, mind, and spirit are all trying to tell you that you’re Going the Wrong Way, the only way they know how.
2. Persistent resentment.
Most of us will feel some type of resentment towards another person at some point in our lives.
For example, it’s not uncommon for someone to resent a sibling or colleague for being able to get away with just about anything while everyone else gets micromanaged.
Those occurrences are usually relatively rare, however.
If you find that you’re feeling resentment on a regular basis, you need to analyze where it’s coming from and why.
For example, are you feeling resentment towards your friends because they get to go out and have fun while you’re working 70-hour weeks? Or do you resent your partner because they’ve weaponized incompetence to the extent that you have to do all the housework yourself because if they do it, they’ll break or ruin everything?
Acknowledging the source of your resentment is key to recognizing what needs to be changed.
3. Feeling trapped.
Feeling absolutely trapped in a situation you can’t escape from is one of the worst feelings imaginable.
Whether it’s at a job that’s sucking your soul dry, or in a living situation that you can’t afford to leave yet, it’s a crushing, strangling sensation that fills you with panic and makes you feel like you need to fight and claw your way free immediately.
Feelings like these can lead to a ton of stress, and have even been known to contribute to mental health crises or breakdowns.
Your mind and body get to the point where they literally cannot continue on in that direction, so things have to change for the sake of your survival.
It’s important to pay attention to these feelings, because ignoring them and trying to convince yourself that it’s all good will just damage you in the long run.
4. Perpetual anger.
Do you find yourself snapping at those around you more easily than you used to? Or that you’re dealing with an undercurrent of anger that’s constantly percolating just below the surface?
Maybe you can keep it in check most of the time, but then something will set you off, and you’ll go nuclear on the next person who breathes too deeply in your vicinity.
Low-grade simmering anger is a surefire sign that you’re not in a good place and may be headed into even worse territory.
While some people naturally struggle with emotion regulation more than others, people who are content and confident about their lives just don’t feel angry about them all the time.
5. Constant anxiety.
A common feeling that many people experience when their life is headed in the wrong direction is anxiety.
It can manifest in a number of different ways, such as getting panic attacks while getting ready for work, or waves of existential dread that hit them out of nowhere.
When a person knows that they’re not on the right path but doesn’t feel safe or confident enough to change direction, they often tamp down and ignore those feelings.
Those feelings don’t go away, however, and can leak out or explode in the form of anxiety in order to alleviate some of the pressure of keeping them contained.
The panic attacks that these individuals experience often subside dramatically when they stop ignoring their gut instincts and take action to change direction.
6. A persistent need to self-soothe.
There are many different ways in which a person may soothe themselves.
Some are deliberate, such as yogic breathing, knitting, or other repetitive actions. Others are subconscious, like biting their nails or rocking back and forth.
In some cases, people use self-destructive forms of self-soothing by drinking alcohol or by eating foods that fill and comfort them.
Most of us partake in self-soothing behaviors of some form or another during times of crisis. This is perfectly natural, and is a behavior that just about every human being will experience at some point.
When these behaviors become the norm, however, that’s a solid sign that there are deep-seated issues in your life that need to be addressed.
If the direction in which your life is headed is causing you to self-soothe several times a day, that’s an undeniable sign that major changes need to happen.
7. That feeling that you’ve been here before (and not in a good way).
A lot of us repeat negative cycles without realizing it.
In fact, it’s often only in hindsight that we can recognize that we’ve chosen the same unhealthy or damaging path as we did before, and that path didn’t lead anywhere good at all.
But when you’re on the path itself, you may find that you experience déjà vu on a regular basis. Not literal déjà vu, but that feeling that you’ve been down this road before, even if you’re in very different circumstances.
If this keeps happening, it may well be that your heart is trying to remind you of past mistakes (and the pain they caused) in order to point you in a different direction.
I’ve experienced this with past romantic partners, and not paying attention to my own body’s warning signs resulted in some rather terrible living situations and even worse breakups.
8. Bone-deep exhaustion.
You may go to bed at 9 pm and wake at 10 the next morning, yet you don’t feel refreshed or replenished. In fact, you may still feel just as tired as you did when you went to bed.
Over the course of the day, you find your mind wandering because it’s difficult to focus, and moving your body seems to take all the energy you have.
This is often the fatigue that comes from living a life that you don’t want, or isn’t a good fit for you, though of course, it’s worth ruling out medical causes to be on the safe side.
You never feel rested, no matter how much sleep you get at night, or how many naps you take over the course of the day.
It’s possible that you’re dealing with functional depression and this is how it’s manifesting, or you’re simply drained to the marrow by pretending to be something you’re not every waking moment of every day.
9. Nausea.
If you’re literally feeling sick to your stomach all the time, that’s a solid sign that you’re not where you’re supposed to be.
It’s normal for people to feel a bit of anticipatory queasiness before major events, even if they’re excited about them.
For example, a lot of people have such butterflies in their stomach before their wedding or when they’re about to do a major presentation, but that passes quickly.
But it’s quite a different thing if you can’t bear to eat because you feel nauseated on a constant basis.
While experiencing this on occasion is understandable, it becomes a point of concern if it manifests on a regular basis. It’s worth exploring because stress and depression can increase your stomach acid, which can make you feel queasy.
As such, if you don’t have GERD or some other digestive disorder, then your nausea may be caused by the feelings you don’t want to acknowledge or work through — especially if facing them will require major energy expenditure or life changes.
Final thoughts…
The feelings listed here may be experienced individually at different points in our lives without meaning much. It’s when they repeat themselves or appear en masse that it’s usually a strong warning sign.
If any or all of these feelings keep arising, please pay attention to them. They may be trying to tell you that you’re headed the wrong way in your life and should turn back or change direction as soon as you can.
For, as the Labyrinth’s walls warned, “the path you will take may lead to certain destruction!”
