Feeling stuck? Stagnant? Like you’re not making any progress? You have hopes, dreams, aspirations and goals but you seem to be running fast without moving anywhere. Your energy is “blah”, you’re unfulfilled and “this place” you’re in is literally killing you. Maybe you’ve been here for a few weeks, or months, or years.
Whatever the case – the most valuable thing you can do is acknowledge that you’re there and do something about it.
There’s no feeling more overwhelming than the feeling of being stuck in a place you don’t want to be in. Like you’re trapped in a corner with nowhere to turn, while the rest of the world seems to function normally.
Sometimes this looks like your days are on autopilot, being driven by someone other than yourself. Sometimes it feels like you’re running as fast as you can, trying to keep up with your life, but you somehow seem to always lag behind. Sometimes it feels like your trapped in a corner with nowhere to go. Sometimes you’re riddled with exhaustion and like it’s impossible to get ahead. Sometimes you keep doing the same things over and over again that you really don’t like doing -but you’re not sure of what to change. And sometimes it feels like you’ve tried everything but you can’t seem to get out of the place you’re in.
This results in losing hope, feeling overwhelmed, and uncertainty.
Everyone gets stuck – but not everyone realizes it when they are. Often, when we’re stuck, we wait in our corner, like a lost child, for someone to come save us or for something on the outside to change. The truth is, self-awareness and desire to change become your most powerful tools in moving forward. If you want to get unstuck, something has to happen internally.
If you’re feeling stuck, try these things.
1. Let go
Let go of the past, your fears, your expectations and everything you “should be doing”. Are you finding it hard to forgive yourself or others close to you? Are you living with so much fear of what’s going to happen, that you’re feeling paralyzed? Have you done or said things that you now regret? Do you keep playing stories over and over in your head from the past? Are you blaming yourself or others for the way things have turned out?
These thoughts and feelings become heavy chains, holding you to where you’re at. Don’t let fear, doubt, guilt, and regret hold you back. Forgive yourself, and others, drop the blame, release the past – as soon as you make the choice to let go of what is no longer serving you, you make space for more of what you do want.
2. Get clear on what’s important
Now that you’ve let go of the heavy burdens that have been keeping you stuck, it’s time to get crystal clear on what you do want. We often feel stuck because we’re hyper-focused on the things that are going wrong in life – we change that by focusing on what’s most important to us.
What are you doing, and who are you really doing it for?
What’s important to you?
Who is important to you?
What do you value the most?
What are you doing right now that doesn’t line up with those values?
You’ve released the heavy weights that you’ve been clinging onto, now it’s time to grab ahold of what’s most important to you in this life.
3. Release the need to do and be everything.
Humans equate productivity to self-worth. The truth is, you’re worthy just as you are. Just for being you. There’s nothing you have to prove, or show the world that will make you more valuable. When you’re in a constant state of “doing” and creating, you’re taking away from your present time in life.
If you want to get unstuck, decide in this moment to start being. Try deep breathing, meditation, and connecting with your surroundings as ways to just “be”. Look into the eyes of the people you love when you’re talking to them, and take your gaze away from your computer or phone. Spend some time outdoors, connecting with nature instead of burying yourself in work. If you feel like you have a million things to do, but don’t know where to start – just stop.
To put it into more perspective, ask yourself:
If this was my only guaranteed moment to live, what would I do with it right now?
The past is gone, and the future isn’t guaranteed. Don’t wait until the end of your life to decide that you should have spent more time actually living. Remember, you’re a human “being” not a human “doing”.
4. Uncover your passions and purpose
Your life purpose is not your job, goals, vision or responsibility – it’s what makes you feel alive. It’s what you’d be willing to fight for, it’s what lights you up when you hear people talking about it or what makes you feel envious when you see others living it.
Your purpose and passion set the stage for why you do what you do in life. It directs your big vision, your goals, your dreams and the things you do on a daily basis. When you become clear on your purpose and passion, you build the momentum to live the life you always dreams up.
Ask yourself these questions to get more clear on your passion and purpose:
What makes me really, really happy?
What did I love spending my time doing as a child?
What do I love doing now?
What topics of conversation fire me up and make me feel angry?
What topics make me light up and feel full of energy?
Who inspires me the most?
5. Create a vision and big picture of what you really want
Without being clear on what you want, you’ll always get more of what you don’t want.
Your vision, and big picture is like your destination on a GPS or map – without choosing your destination you’ll be driving around in circles. When you get crystal clear on what you want your life to look and feel like, you start to gravitate in that direction. Getting clear on your big vision, brings clarity on what choice you should make next. On a subconscious level, you expect certain things and for your life to take a certain direction – but without clarity, you’ll never get there.
Using what means the most to you, your hopes and dreams, your passion and purpose and what really lights you up – create a dynamic vision for your life.
What does your ideal life look like?
Feel like?
What do you want more than anything in the world?’
What does your perfect day look like?
If money and time were no issue, what would you spend your days doing?
Paint this picture so vivid and clear, and visualize it daily.
6. Shift your mindset and shift everything
The final and most important piece of getting unstuck is believing in yourself. You are the dreamer of your dreams, the person in control of your life, the visionary. You know deep down, on a soul level, what you want – even if it’s really hard to pinpoint it right now. You have a unique set of gifts that you were born to share with the world, and a purpose that is 100% unique to you.
But if you don’t believe in yourself, that all goes away. Your mind is bigger than any reality. If you don’t believe that your dream is possible, it isn’t. If you don’t believe that you’ll ever be working in your dream business, you won’t be. Whatever you believe is true, is. Without realizing it, we often cut ourselves short and keep ourselves stuck because we didn’t believe it was possible to live any other way.
To start building belief in yourself, and gain the momentum to get unstuck, ask yourself:
What have I overcame in life? What are my successes?
What am I really amazing at? What is my zone of expertise?
What would my life look like if I let things become easy?
How would I feel if I truly believed in myself?
What would my life look like if I followed my dreams?
What if I ignored everyone else’s hesitations, and followed my own intuition?
Hide or Shine
If you want to get unstuck – you have to be brave. It takes courage, and bravery to do something different than before. When it comes to feeling stuck, you have the choice to hide in fear or shine in your light.
Hiding is easy, but everything that you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of your comfort zone. So give yourself permission to shine in your own light. To take control of your life, and become everything you’ve dreamt of becoming – the only thing holding you back right now is you.
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