Getting Unstuck

Have you ever felt like you were just stuck? Perhaps a good visual is one where you are standing at the bottom of a deep well, looking way up at the sky and not knowing how to make the ascent up and out of that dark pit. Or, maybe you’re high up in a tree, “out on a limb”, not able to make your way down to stable ground. Either way, stuck is stuck. Maybe you didn’t realize you were stuck for a long time and then one day it just hit you . . . stuck in a routine, stuck in a relationship, stuck in a dead-end job, stuck in a habit that doesn’t work in your life. Or, perhaps you’ve been wallowing in your stuck-ness for awhile – uncertain of your next steps. Sometimes, it just becomes easier to stay stuck than to try and move out of it. We get stuck because we have so much coming at us at all times that rarely do we get a chance to sit, and just be.  

When we allow ourselves to just be, we are able to put the mind-chatter aside and look deeper into ourselves. It’s during these times of just sitting, and being, that we’re able to ask ourselves the important questions:  What’s working in our lives? What has become a road block? Where are we moving forward? Where are we just dragging our heels? The next question is, then what?

Well, unfortunately, many of us stay stuck. Whether it comes from fear of the unknown, complacency, fear of change, or something else, we stay stuck because it’s much easier than moving. But, when we examine the people we are when we are stuck, compared to the people we can become when we move forward, it’s easy to see which person we want to be. The recipe for getting unstuck is to change something. Get out of your routine. Try something completely out of the ordinary and out of your comfort zone. Change is all about growth and making life the way we want it to be. Plan in your mind what you are going to do that’s out of routine today or completely out of your comfort zone. Last weekend, I participated in a Gregorian Chant choral group (and I can’t sing). The next day, I followed my passion and went on a bird watching hike (something I’ve always wanted to do) and spent my time amongst experienced birders who knew every bird’s call and the name of each feathered-friend we encountered. I could have felt out of place in both situations (and I did, at first) but the newness of those adventures did more for me than maintaining a routine that wasn’t moving me forward. Try it! Next time you feel stuck, go sing in a chorus (even if you can’t sing). Sign up for a class or go to a networking group. Or, take baby steps and just take a different route into work or talk to someone you don’t know at the grocery store. As we take these steps, we begin to see that we in fact, CAN change, and we have the power to make our lives the way we want to. The challenge is taking that first step. Why not take one today?