If you're like most of us, you'd love to find a few natural ways to…
What To Do When You’re Feeling Stuck In Life (And Get Moving Again)
Do you ever find yourself feeling stuck in life? Perhaps you’re in a job you hate and feel trapped. Or maybe you feel trapped in a relationship.
Maybe you’re just plain stuck in a rut.
Whatever it is that is zapping your energy and making you feel like you’re stuck in quick-drying cement, you can take solace in the knowledge that it happens to the best of us.
I doubt there’s a person among us who hasn’t felt the need to find the secret to getting unstuck.
Simple Clues That Your Inner Voice Is Screaming “I Need A Change”
Sometimes that feeling of being struck or trapped can be mistaken for merely having a bad day or a bad week.
Everyone experiences ruts, periods of time where they feel like they’re not getting enough done, they don’t feel like what they’re doing is meaningful, they don’t like who they are and they’re living the same day, day in and day out, like Groundhog Day. But since everyone gets into ruts, what differentiates people is how quickly they recognize they’re in one, and take action to get out of it. (Frances Bridges, 2017, Forbes, 6 Ways to Get Out of a Rut.)
But when you keep hearing silent warnings that things are not as they should be, it’s time to take stock. You owe it to yourself to make sure you’re not settling for anything less than the life you deserve.
And the good news is, it’s easier than you think to learn how to stop feeling stuck in life. And it just might surprise you to learn that you already have one of the most powerful tools to help you get unstuck: Your mind.
More about that in a moment. First, let’s examine some of the tell-tale signs that you need to make some changes in your life.
Here are some of the most common ways to tell for sure that you are feeling stuck in life. No, it’s not just your imagination.
- You’re questioning your current relationship with a significant other or even a friend.
- Your job has become a drudge cycle that you hate.
- You’re feeling lonely most of the time.
- You don’t look forward to getting up each day.
- Your energy levels are at rock bottom.
Now, we should note that some of these signs can be symptoms of clinical depression. If nothing you do seems to help. you should seek professional help.
But more often than not, they’re just garden-variety indications that you’re stuck in a rut.
Do keep in mind that this list represents just a few examples of discontent and feeling stuck in life. The list is not necessarily exhaustive.
But just because you may be feeling stuck in life at the moment does not mean all is lost. You can get yourself out of that rut and move on to greater happiness and even prosperity.
And as I mentioned a few moments ago, your mind, specifically your subconscious mind, is one of your most powerful, and readily available tools.
How reassuring is that?
Surprising Reasons You’re Struggling to Get Unstuck
Because your mind is such a powerful tool, it stands to reason that it can be the key to helping you get yourself out of a rut. Paradoxically, it can also be the reason you’re unable to break free.
Let’s discuss some of the roadblocks you may have placed in your path to happiness, as well as some simple strategies to help you break free.
1. You Feel You’re Already Too Invested
For example, you may be reluctant to take affirmative steps to get out of your rut because you’ve already invested so much into your current situation.
Be it money, time, or emotional energy, when you believe you’re in too deep to realistically escape, you’re placing roadblocks in your path.
While it is hard to walk away from something you’ve spent so much on in terms of time, money, or emotional energy, continuing down a downward spiral doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Seriously, do you really want to invest even more into something that’s holding you back? Probably not.
Acknowledge that things are not as you’d hoped, or even as they once may have been. Permit yourself to change direction. That’s how you can begin to move forward in life. At the very least, it’s a big first step.
Regret may paralyze you from making progress, but studies show that counterfactual thinking can actually help motivate you to act. Counterfactual thinking is the process of constructively assessing how something might have happened, asking the question, “What might I have done?” It prompts a new and empowering resolve: “When X happens (or doesn’t happen), I will do Y.” (Peg Streep, 2014, Psychology Today, 5 Powerful Strategies To Get You Out of a Rut.)
2. You’re Wallowing In Wishful Thinking
If you’ve convinced yourself that if you work a little harder, expend a bit more energy, or more money, things will improve, you may be in for a rude awakening.
It’s always possible that the root of your problem is that you haven’t done enough to fix the status quo. But it’s more likely that you’ve been down this road before. Often the first thing we do when we feel stuck is attempt to do more.
Doing more doesn’t always work. In fact, it can just hasten the problem. Now you feel like a failure as well.
No good can come from such actions. Sometimes the best course of action is to step onto a different path.
Your experiences up to this point have not been futile. Instead, they serve as teaching moments. Chalk things up to experience and try a different tact.
3. Pipe Dreams are Standing in the Way of Action Steps
Now, there’s nothing wrong with dreams. Dreaming of what you want your future to look like can be a great stepping stone to making it happen.
The problem is not dreams, per se, but rather pipe dreams that are nothing more than pie-in-the-sky thoughts that end right there.
Don’t just fantasize about running off to a tropical island to escape feeling stuck in a bad job. Dreams without action are useless and unfulfilling.
Instead, set attainable goals, and take practical, bite-sized steps to help you reach them.
Not only will taking positive steps toward your goals move you closer to reaching them, but your entire quality of life stands to improve along the way.
You’ll discover ways to work toward a better, higher paying, job. Or perhaps break free of a bad relationship, allowing you to be ready when a better one comes along.
4. You Don’t Recognize False Positives
What do I mean by false positives when it comes to feeling stuck in life?
Sometimes you get little cues here and there that tell you, often falsely, that things are going along swimming. You’ve just been a bit down in the dumps. It’s temporary. All is well.
When you get these little signals that things may improve in time, it can be easy to breathe a sigh of relief and believe there’s no need to make a change.
For example, perhaps your significant other does something thoughtful, and you find yourself doubting your lingering feeling that something is off.
Or you have a good day at work when most of your days have been torturous.
While it’s possible that things are improving, it’s likely just a miscue.
If the overall feeling you’ve been experiencing is that you need a change in your life, one or two bright moments here and there probably don’t mean that everything is now perfect.
Enjoy these moments of light, but don’t get lulled into a false sense of security.
You need more than occasional bright spots to signal an escape from your rut. Stay vigilant. Continue to take corrective action.
5. You Don’t Trust the Power of Your Mind
When you’re feeling stuck in life, it’s easy to dismiss the idea that you hold within yourself the power to get unstuck. That is if the thought even occurs to you in the first place.
The idea that the subconscious mind can effect positive change in your life may seem like the rantings of a 60’s flower child but the truth is, it can.
Your mind is an incredibly powerful tool.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the law of attraction. You may have asked yourself, “Is the law of attraction real?”
What is the law of attraction, anyway?
In simple terms, the law of attraction is a concept whereby you make your thoughts and desires real by thinking about them. By attracting them to you from the universe.
When put that way, it’s easy to see how you might be tempted to dismiss the idea of your mind holding such power. But more and more scientific evidence exists to back this idea up.
The brain regions involved in “intention” are very connected to those regions involved in action. As a result, firing up those brain regions involved in intention will start to fire up your action centers. Intention needs to be strong enough for action to occur. Also, when you place your attention on a certain feeling (e.g. pain), it can worsen that feeling. By inference, when we place our attention away from that pain, the pain is decreased. Thus, it is not so much that we are “attracting” what we put out, but that we make it possible to feel and do things when we attend to them or intend to do them. (Srinivasan Pillay, 2011, The Huffington Post, Is There Scientific Evidence for the Law of Attraction)
There are plenty of ways to tap into the law of attraction. Transformational audios are an excellent way to retrain your mind to make the most of this powerful tool.
6. You’ve Forgotten How to Use Mindfulness and Live in The Moment
When you’re feeling stuck in life, it can be easy to forget to enjoy the here and now.
Often we get so caught up in the stress of thinking about feeling lonely, feeling lost, or dwelling on relationship problems that we forget that there’s much to be thankful for in the moment.
Another trap we get caught in is dwelling on past mistakes or worrying about what might happen in the future. The operative word there being might.
Honestly, we gain little by punishing ourselves for things we wish we’d done differently in the past.
And the future hasn’t happened yet so why worry unnecessarily about that?
Living in the moment is another way to tap into the law of attraction.
Again, focusing on the present moment, especially with thoughts of improvement, sends a powerful message to your subconscious mind.
These messages work toward signaling your subconscious mind to move toward improving your life.
Maybe the desired change is job-related. Or perhaps it’s centered on getting out of a bad relationship.
Perhaps you need to change your fitness and health situation.
It doesn’t matter what you’re focused on improving. Your mind starts moving you in the right direction. Living mindfully in the moment relieves stress as well, also beneficial toward positive change going forward.
People who practice everyday mindfulness can actually change the structure of their brains, beefing up the areas that control emotions and stress responses, says psychologist Britta Holzel, Ph.D., a neuroscience researcher at Charite Hospital in Berlin. That’s why mindfulness can mean the difference between freaking out and keeping cool when, say, your friend flakes on dinner or you get unfair criticism from a boss. And why it’s been proven to help ward off anxiety and depression. (Tori Rodriguez, 2013, Women’s Health, How to Live in the Now.) Hopefully, by now you understand that if you’ve been feeling stuck in life, there are definite steps you can take to learn how to get out of a rut. The key is recognizing the signals that you are stuck. Then, once you understand what’s happening, you can begin to take steps to change your life. And the powerful tool of your subconscious mind is ready to guide the way. Who knew the mind had such incredible superpowers? Well, now, you do. You’ve discovered the secret. Let the incredible power of your mind release you from feeling stuck in life once and for all. Have you been feeling stuck in life and looking for help to get unstuck? Head over to the Light Of Mind shop and find a self-transformational audio to help you get started today.
A Simple Path Toward Getting Out of Your Rut
Related Posts
