How to Find Something You Lost

Are you wondering how to find something you lost? Losing something important to you can leave you with an unsettled, panicked feeling. That feeling of loss and anxiousness can get even worse when you have trouble finding the object.

Thankfully, there are ways to manage your emotions and work to find something you lost and restore some peace to your daily life. Here are seven tips to start.

1. Think About the Last Time You Had It

Before you rip apart your home trying to find your lost item, take a step back and take a deep breath. Try to clear your mind and even practice meditation until you feel relaxed. Once you get to a calm mental state, specifically use your brain power to remember the last time you had or used the object. If it’s your cell phone, when did you last text someone? Or if it’s your wallet, when did you last use your credit card?

2. Physically Retrace Your Steps

If you use your energy to think about the last time you had what you lost and you still can’t picture where it is, try physically re-tracing your steps. Start where you are in the present and work backward until you reach the point where you last remember having the lost object.

If you were in a place other than your home, visit different bars, restaurants and other places you were the night before. Walk the route if it’s manageable in case you dropped it or popped into another bar or store you forgot about.

3. Manage Your Emotions

In the heat of the moment, it’s easy for your emotions to take hold. Getting angry or frustrated will only hurt your productivity while you’re determining how to find something you lost.

Your emotions can either hurt you or motivate you to push forward and find what you lost. Channel your angry and frustrated emotions into something constructive that can help you get what you need.

4. Check the Messiest Parts of Your Home

A study from the University of Aberdeen found that you need to look in the most cluttered places of your home to find what you lost. People often waste too much time looking in the tidiest places of their house for things such as missing keys, a phone, wallet and more.

Quickly glance into the uncluttered parts of your house, then do a more thorough search in messier rooms.

5. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Part of maintaining a good and healthy memory is getting a good night’s sleep. If the item you lost isn’t essential, sometimes taking a nap or getting a good night’s sleep can do wonders for your physical and mental health.

Before you go to sleep, think about the item you lost and where you might have lost it. Your body will process whatever you were thinking about before you closed your eyes during a daytime nap.

6. Ask Yourself a Few Questions

Before you call in a massive search party, ask yourself a few questions about the item. Is it on yourself? Did you happen to lend it to everyone else? Was it truly your object or did it belong to someone else?

These are all questions you need to answer before you can truly look for the item.

7. Ask Others for Help

If you try all of the above tips and still can’t figure out how to find something you lost, check with your friends and family. They may have seen the item around or suggest another idea for where you could have left it.

You can also ask friends and family members who have a little extra time to help you look for what you lost.

Always Stay Calm

Your item is important to you, and trying to get it back can be overwhelming. Take a few deep breaths and clear your mind before you begin to search.

No matter what happens, you can accomplish anything you set your mind and memory to.