asking for directions

I was just getting back from my evening walk with Bella when a woman stopped to get a brochure for the house I am house sitting, which is on the market. After doing a normal polite smile and wave I proceeded to go towards the house when she called out to me. "Excuse me." she said. I turned and smiled and walked toward her. "How do I get out of here?" She asked me. Assuming she was trying to find her way out of the subdivision I asked her what road she was trying to get back to. "I don't know." She simply stated. I was rather perplexed. "Well, hmmmmm, ok." was all that really came to mind. She embarrassingly smiled and looked down at her hands and she said, "I don't know where I came from, so I don't really know where I am going." What she said immediately resonated with me and I wondered if she could tell how much I could relate. What was interesting was that I still gave her directions. The thing that was more interesting was that she wanted them. I know in all reality she probably would recognize her surroundings once she got to a main road. I know she probably just had gotten turned around within the subdivision but still. Isn't it so strange to have someone ask you directions when they don't even know where they are going?
The more I thought about it the more I could see parallels in my own life. How often do I look to others for guidance. I want their feedback, their opinions and their beliefs pertaining to me and allow their words to direct my path. I subconsciously "ask them for directions" in my own life when they have no idea of where my dreams or goals are leading me. Why is it that I so desperately need the reinforcement and approval of other people who really don't know me well enough to know where I long to be. I was talking to someone the other day about how I am so completely trusting and completely not trust simultaneously. The professionals in my life tell me what exactly i need to do in order to maintain recovery. I listen until I feel overwhelmed or my weight feels like it increases. So fairly quickly I disregard the road map they have given me and turn back to my own internal gps system...a system that has repeatedly landed me sick, miserable, and in treatment. At the same time a stranger could tell me that my arms are big or that my stomach sticks out and I would believe them. My ex boyfriend told me lie after lie about why we needed to break up only to turn around and do the opposite of what he told me. And I was surprised. It's just funny.
So as I walked inside and contemplated my encounter with this lost woman I was reminded that all too often I allow others to give me directions when I don't even know where I am going...and I realized how important it is for me to set myself toward a destination that will bring me life. Because once I set myself toward that dream the misleading words of other will fall lifelessly to the ground all around me. I won't waste my time following directions that don't lead to my destination. I hopefully will stop asking other people for their opinions of me when they carry no weight in my life. And also I need to allow those who do carry weight and who know where I am heading, to direct me when I get off track. I guess it all comes down to being mindful of who you are asking for directions. Life is challenging enough without getting the wrong directions.