This blog is inspired by quitting my job on the emergency response team of a major international humanitarian aid agency. Absolutely loving my work, identifying with it, but knowing it was slowly crowding out all the non-work parts of my life. And yet feeling completely lost without it… and just doing that for a while.

Feeling lost.

Being lost.

Being curious about what it is like to be and feel lost.

Going off to meditate. Coming back and still feeling lost (and cold – it was March in New York City!) Doing all the things I’d always wanted to do if only I’d had time. Pottery, farming, NYC-summering, oil painting, swimming. Wishing I was in northern Iraq. South Sudan. Sierra Leone. Getting asked to go to all of those places, and saying no. Wondering if I should have said yes. Knowing that I had to say no, because as urgent as the needs always are, as lucky as I always feel to offer help in some small way, I needed time and space. And then having so many whispered conversations about all of this with friends and colleagues feeling the same rumblings, pondering the same scary choices, and not sure what to do or where to turn.

So let’s turn to each other. Be honest. Be as anonymous or non-anonymous as you feel safe to be.

Either way, it is my hope you will find something of use here. Offer your own thoughts or questions. Start a conversation. Submit a guest post (see the Contact page). Become a regular contributor. Join us.

Our mission is for this site to be a source of support because what we do is hard. And knowing when and how to take a break, to slow down, to do it differently, or to re-enter after taking some time away, can be hard, too.

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