It's cheesy but true - how getting lost I found myself.

I'm sharing with you the story behind the heART - the 'you are here' stencil art piece I have been hanging up with delight for the last few years. It's a bit cheesy and meta - life's learnings can be like that sometimes. You can also read the story on the blog and search for where these signs have been posted all over the world.

Have you ever been lost and then found yourself?

The sound of familiar voices and American accents reached my ears - welcome tendrils over and between the sounds of water lapping against the boardwalk. I stood there, unable to tell which direction the sound was coming from. I must be close, I mused. But I was also lost—two things that seemed antithetical.

I was already flustered coming late from another event. I felt lucky to be included in what I hoped would be an incredible networking opportunity and some excellent food. Without cellular data while traveling internationally, I’d resorted to analog methods to navigate: verbal directions, screenshots of maps, and a free city guide grabbed from the hotel desk. 

About 20 steps away, I saw a public map on an outdoor message-type board. Excellent, I surmised. I would use the map plus the address of the gathering’s location to find my way to my intended destination since, by the sound of the voices, it must be close.

I arrived at the large map and began searching for the generally universal and ubiquitous “YOU ARE HERE” with an associated red dot or triangle or pin of some sort. What's a map without an orientation to the reader?

Alas, this map had NOTHING for me to locate myself amongst the lines. I started literally laughing out loud -  how could it be I was close enough to occasionally get snippets of a good time being had I could not find my way to the gathering?

In my laughter and confusion and being totally lost, I mused to myself “YOU ARE HERE”. You are boardwalk beneath your feet, breeze off the water, lost AF, and right here. It was such a fun meta moment to realize that with or without the excellent wayfinding I had been searching for, I had an internal “pin” to locate me in a place.

When I returned home, I cut this stencil and have been making and posting these signs all over as reminders to myself - YOU ARE HERE. No phone needed. No red dot or pin. You are here.