Ask Erik is a spiritual advice column from the eternally twenty-year-old spirit guide, Erik Medhus. Through gifted medium and spirit translator Kim Babcock, he directly answers readers’ questions on death, the afterlife, spirituality, the human experience, and more with the insight and wisdom he’s gained since his passing.

Hello Elisa,

Why do I feel a longing with all my heart to be somewhere or someone else, something beyond the mundane of daily life yet completely blocked from moving toward that longing or even understanding where it truly comes from?

— Marla

Marla: This feeling is due to lack of self-discovery. It doesn’t mean you haven’t tried but that you have yet to achieve knowing who you are. Work on that. Work to develop who you are. What makes you, you? What defines you — love, compassion, trust?