WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FEEL STUCK
How to get unstuck from a rut.
Being stuck in life can feel like you’re trapped, perhaps trapped by your circumstances, or trapped by the way you think and feel about you and your life. Stuck in a rut or stuck with your lot in life unable to step outside of it and do or be something different.
Many times in life we can get stuck and it’s ultimately due to fear.
Fear of change.
Fear of failure.
Fear of success.
Fear of no longer having the safety net of being stuck.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FEEL STUCK.
As much as we can hate and moan about feeling stuck or trapped, actually it can also provide us with a great sense of comfort, because as negative and boring as it is, it is also know and familiar. We humans find a great deal of comfort in the familiar, even if it is the thing that is making us unhappy. Unfortunately we are victims of lazy brains. Brains don’t like to work hard and be challenged and changed all the time. They like to find short cuts and prefer consistency and monotony as its leaves them able to function quickly and efficiently and deal with life in this way as its processes an enormous wealth of information and data.
But this understanding doesn’t necessarily help us when dealing with feelings of being stuck and the underlying fear that is creating this situation.
Fear is debilitating, can be overwhelming, however it can also be subtle and clever in the way it controls us and stops us from reaching our full potential and being the best version of us.
So if being stuck is about fear, how do we address that fear and make it small enough to mean we can put one foot in front of the other and make progress and make a change no matter how small?
Let’s carry out a little exercise, imagine you had no fear…what would you then be able to achieve?
Fear is not the absence of responsibility, it’s the source of using responsibility as an excuse not to go out there and change something, anything. ‘I am who I am, well that’s just me, I’ve always been that way and always will be, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, people would notice me being different, it’s not who I am, I have other people to consider.’ What we have here is a list of excuses, not lies, but excuses, and excuses are a clear sign of fear. Anything and everything is possible if you’re prepared to make sacrifices, make change and challenge yourself to think differently to how you have before.
The secret to getting out of a rut is to challenge fear, and the only thing stronger than fear, is HOPE.
Hope is the most powerful and positive emotion you have on your side, and especially when dealing with fear.
You can come up with every excuses in the world but so long as you have hope, you have something to aim for. Without hope you are direction-less and without ambition or desire to challenge your status quo.
So when you are feeling stuck, trapped and afraid I invite you to identify that glimmer of hope. What is the thing that you hope for? Is about you and who you are in the world, is about your life and the people in it, or something else? Whatever it is, when you have identified what it is you hope for, you have a starting point to change your situation from negative, fearful and hopeless to one that is positive, fearless and hopeful.
Hope is motivating and ambitious, and when you know your direction you have something clear to work towards. The next step is to identify the steps you need to take to move closer to turning that hope into a reality. How will you know you are making progress, what will be the signs that show you change is afoot and progress is being made? For more information about writing goals check out these blog posts.
And if you take nothing else away from this post, please remember that HOPE IS THE ONLY THING STRONGER THAN FEAR!
I wish you every success with identifying what it is you hope for and you can move towards it and get out of your rut and stuck-ness. If you would like help with any aspect of feeling stuck, challenging fears, making change and identifying hope then please get in touch and arrange your free consultation.
Wishing you a happy, confident and hopeful day!
Lydia x