What to Do When You’re Feeling Stuck in Life

What to do when you’re feeling stuck in life. What a heavy topic right?This weekend I had one of the coolest opportunities. A reader reached out to me via email to set up a meeting, a mentoring session, because she felt stuck in life and had been reading a lot of my blog posts and thought I might have some advice. Unfortunately I had a couple of huge work trips coming up so we had to delay it. But, it was kismet because that couple weeks was the timing needed to have the right conversation.

We talked from 10:30 am – 1 pm so to say it went well is an understatement. Not only did we have a good conversation, we walked away as friends who just got so much about each other that has made us feel isolated and alone. To know that someone else has those thoughts and feelings was such a relief. Maybe I’m not alone. There is someone like me!

After we finished talking I wanted to share what we discussed and thought it might be beneficial for you if you are feeling stuck as well. I find that life kind of goes in a three-year cycle. Year one, learning who you are. Second year, totally owning it and knowing exactly who you are. Third year you spend it wondering what the heck to do next.

What to Do When You’re Feeling Stuck

Reach Out

I think the biggest and hardest thing is recognizing that you are stuck. Just like Nicole did, I’ve reached out to people and in much nicer terms, asked for help. People I admire, friends, anyone. Reaching out is one of the most important things when you feel stuck. The line between being stuck and slipping into a depression can become a very thin invisible line for some people and it’s important to stay in contact.

Seek Opportunities

This one is harder, but if are you stuck in a left-brained job and want to explore your right brain, see what part-time opportunities there are. In Nicole’s case, she was pursing a very small creative outlet that allowed her to still have the stability of her daytime job paycheck, but explore what might be out there. Sometimes it’s not possible to get a job, but trying something new with an adult-education class is a great way to not commit a ton of your time but learn without any pressure.

Read

Why does such a simple, basic thing always re-center us? I find that when my brain feels “blah” about a lot of things, it’s probably because I haven’t engaged it. There are sooo many wonderful books out there right now that are truly worth making time to read. Plus, reducing screen time is always a positive thing!

I highly recommend these books as I’ve been lucky enough to be given or recently completed them. They are all highly recommended so you can’t go wrong.

Becoming
The Subtle Art of Not Giving an F
The Power of Moments
Girl, Stop Apologizing
Daring Greatly

Do the Little Things

There is so much “mental clutter” we develop. I find that when I am feeling stuck, I’m not making the best decisions. I KNOW I could do something that would make my life easier (see this post here on how I do that) but I just don’t. When you are feeling stuck, it’s so easy just to keep making the easy or bad decisions. You don’t view yourself as worth seeing the good. But you are. And just doing little, simple things that are taking up space in your life will help you so much. So put that notebook that you’ve been meaning to put in your purse, write the thank you notes. Do the little things that will help you make better decisions.

And finally…

Feeling stuck doesn’t just get un-stuck overnight. In fact, it’s often not for months that you feel like there is a single bit of progress. But when you are trying and putting in the effort you will never regret it. What might be down one path may not be what helps you feel better, but you will never regret trying to pursue things for yourself.