Sometimes, and often without warning, we find ourselves to be stuck. It’s almost as if we wake up from a trance and the nagging feelings hit us full force.
This is not where I want to be or what I wanted my life to look like. How did this happen? How did I get here?
You may even look at the stuck and think that it’s not so bad. You wonder why you’re even bothering to worry about it. It’s just a nagging feeling that what you’ve got or where you are isn’t quite right for you, nor is it what you wanted for yourself all those years ago. Way back when.
The poet Mary Oliver asks us, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Indeed, what are you doing? We were all born to shine bright and live our best lives.
If you feel a bit off course, make time to ask yourself these key questions:
- Where are you now?
- Where do you want to be?
- What is in your way?
Accepting the basis of your “stuckness” is the key to being able to move through it, to be able to plan how to change it, or to put an end date on where you’re at and begin taking charge. Begin by making a choice for your very own future.
Turn being “stuck” on its head with this acronym:
Stop.
Pause. Make time for yourself. This is important.
Take notes.
Journal—put your thoughts on paper or speak them into your phone. Take the opportunity to look at everything again once it’s out of your brain. Sometimes we get so busy in our own heads it can be hard to spot the issues.
Understand.
Figure out your main themes. Get help to understand them if you need to.
Clear it.
Be compassionate towards yourself. This is hard, tough, worthwhile work.
Keep it clean.
Forgive when you can, so you can move on. It’s not personal.
It’s time to say to yourself:
I am not responsible for what happened to me in the past. That is finished. And it is what it is. However, I am responsible for what I do with my past, for the stories I tell about it, and for the way I move forward from today.
Don’t be left spinning your wheels on the roundabout of life. If you find yourself off course, and stuck where you are, the time to act is now.
Put your indicator on and trust yourself.
