Feeling Stuck in Life?

Determination Ends Stagnation

If you’re feeling stuck, you’re not alone. Almost everyone feels stuck at some point in life. The good news is that there are many things you can do for free, to help you get unstuck.

However, if what you’re feeling is related to mental health, it’s important that you seek help from appropriate mental health professionals.

If you’re feeling that negative feeling is just a speed bump on your road of life, don’t worry. That’s normal.

Everyone goes through it at some point or another. If you’re feeling stuck in life and in a rut, stagnant, overwhelmed, depressed or trapped, that’s normal. It’s actually a good thing because it’s there to flag your attention, like a signpost along the way to help guide you if you’re off course.

The good news is that you can turn it around, and while it may not be easy, there are a few simple, free and natural remedies to turn things around. They’ve worked for me and others many, many times and include foundational self help strategies to help you get unstuck.

As I was updating this article to share, I received some negative news that floored me. I went from happily working away to sudden fear, doubt and uncertainty. So I did the four things I know to do. It was tough… it didn’t happen instantly, but it  always helps.

“Movement is a creativity catalyst.”
~Chase Jarvis, Creative Calling

Table of Contents

• Getting Out from Under Overwhelm
• Four Steps to Getting Unstuck
  • Vigorous Movement
  • Help Somebody
  • Practice Gratitude
  • Create Something
• Get Going with Goals
• How to Get Unstuck?
• Do You Dive in or Dip Your Toe?
• This Universal Law Will Get You Going
• Focus on What You Want
• Don’t Feed the Fear
• Connect with Other Creators

Four Steps to Getting Unstuck

1. Move vigorously
2. Help somebody
3. Practice Gratitude
4. Create Something

Activity, creativity, servitude and gratitude turns pain to pearls.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com

1. Vigorous Movement

To move — and move vigorously — shifts you to a more empowered state.

We’ve shared about this in other articles as well, because it’s so vitally important.

The Robbins-Madanes Strategic Intervention coaching I was trained in as a relationship, marriage, family and life coach founded by Tony Robbins and Cloe Madanes, emphasizes this as well.

When you change your physiology, you change your state to positively charged.

2. Help Somebody

There’s almost always someone else who’s worse off than we are. Whenever you feel paralyzed, depressed, overwhelmed or just stagnant, get out of your own head and into your heart. It could be people, pets or plants… or even to care for and restore something, whatever it is… the helper is helped in the helping.

Nurturing nurtures.

If you don’t know of anyone to help immediately, there are other things you can do, such as go on social media and make nice and helpful comments to your friends’ sharings, and in groups you belong to.

If social media tends to make you feel worse when you’re down in the doldrums, then call a friend and go out for a spontaneous coffee together. Or invite friends over for some wine, hor d’oeuvres and a board game.

Contribution brings an orienting perspective that opens your heart and replaces worry, fear and negativity with calm, positivity and possibility thinking.

To help someone is to also help yourself.

3. Practice Gratitude

Gratitude moves your awareness from can’t to can, from fear to faith and from negativity to positivity. We cannot adequately express gratitude and anger or angst at the same time. Like contribution, gratitude is an orienting and balancing medium for when you’re feeling stuck in life.

Three Times, and then Three More

Some of the ways to practice gratitude is to write down three things that immediately come to mind that you’re grateful for. Then three things that you might have to think about to recall into conscious gratitude.

A lovely activity that combines both contribution and gratitude, is to write a handwritten card or note to someone and mail it. Getting a handwritten letter or card of appreciation always boosts another’s spirit and brings a smile. Writing it, will bring that smile to your face, and receiving and reading it will bring a smile to theirs.

Gratitude enhances your quality of life and that of those for whom you are grateful..

To become grateful is to soften the edges of angst and remember blessings over bothers.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com®

4. Create Something

Creativity is a clearing house for negativity. If you’re a writer, start writing… even if it’s all randomness. If you’re a sketcher or painter, start that.

Usually, to engage in your favorite medium of creativity will help you shift into your zone of genius and dissipate your anxiety. However, if that fails, then create something completely different.

Creativity sparks positivity, and creating fans that flame. So consciously manifest more good by the actions you take and the thoughts you dwell on. Cook something… stack or paint stones… give yourself a manicure… create order by cleaning and organizing.

Anything productively creative, will help shift you from where you were to more of where you want to be.

Human beings are manifesting machines, and we’re manifesting either consciously or unconsciously.
~LeVar Burton, American actor, show host, director, author, b.2/16/1957

Get Going with Goals

If you don’t have a to-do list, grab a notepad and start one. If you’re not sure what has the most priority of the things on your list, don’t worry. Just start writing down all the things that would help you move forward in your goals.

Get the clamoring troops of to-dos out of your head and onto paper (or digital document). You can give them their marching orders later. For now, you need to clear them all out of your head and where you can see them before you can begin to organize and prioritize them.

The fastest way out a slump is to simply do the next thing that most needs doing.

If you’re not yet sure about your goals and don’t have a goals list, you might find this goals and dreams article helpful.

One of the many great things about working a goals planner is that when you get stuck or have a brain blip as to what’s the next most important thing for you to do, you’ve got your checklist.

Setting goals is akin to lines on the road… they keep you on track and heading in the right direction.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then start working on the first one.

~Mark Twain, writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, b.Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910

That’s why we’re big on using a goals journal. It’s a simple but highly effective way to stay on track and get unstuck.

How to Get Unstuck?

Momentum annihilates stagnation. The best way to get out from under overwhelm is to get started. Movement is critical for breaking the cycle of feeling stuck in life. Movement is the antithesis of stagnation.

The fastest way to jumpstart your creative engine and get moving in the right direction is to start with the most important thing on your list. Once you start there the rest gets easier. Starting with the most important thing will lighten your mental load tremendously and free up energy and bandwidth to do more.

Similarly, if you end up finished with your list before the day’s over, go ahead and do one more thing, or, refine and elaborate your plans for the next day.

Starting with the most important thing is recommended, however, if you’re really feeling stuck in life and overwhelmed, then you may need to start small instead. It may be that you’re a toe-dipper rather than a diver.

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
~Wayne Dyer, philosopher, author, inspirational speaker, 1940-2015

Do You Dive in or Dip Your Toe?

Still feeling stuck in life and unable to move forward on the hardest or most important thing? Then perhaps easing into is a better fit for your personality.

If you’re the dive in sort, then tackle the most important thing first. Or, f you’re the toe-in-to-test-the-water type, then you may want to start with the first easy task.

Either way you’re getting started and you’re moving forward. Motion ends stagnation. If you’re moving forward you’re not likely to be stuck.

Movement is literally the opposite of being stuck. Getting goals done is empowering and energizing. The effect is that the more you do the more you’re able to do.

See the video at the end on the proven mental health benefits of exercise.

Physics reveals that the more you do, the more you’re able to do.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

This Universal Law Will Get You Going

The Law of Motion states: “A body in motion stays in motion; a body at rest stays at rest.”  At first it may require more effort and fortitude to get “that body in motion.”  This law is real, and can be to your benefit or detriment, for the other side of that law is “A body at rest stays at rest unless enacted by an outside force.”

That “outside force” you must engage is determination and perseverance, and… to just “do the work.” This process absolutely works, IF you apply it! This is where “don’t think just do it” may come into play.

The more you do that’s on your task list, the more energy you will have to do the next thing because motion picks up momentum. Success picks up speed. As you become unstuck, your perspective of what’s most important for you to do toward achieving your goals will shift. You can continue to update and tweak your list as you go.

Success compounds and picks up speed.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Focus on What You Want

Most of us are guilty of “stinking thinking”, especially when it comes to thoughts of ourselves, our work and what we feel we’re capable of doing. Perhaps we’ve encountered that critic’s voice in our head such as the “Who do you think you are…?” kind of thinking.

It’s hard to do your most creative thinking when you’re feeling stuck in life. Often you can sidestep the creator’s abyss by simply reframing the issue.

The issues that stress us and the fears that haunt us, rarely come to pass.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Don’t Feed the Fear

Fear and stress zap creativity.

The issues that stress us and the fears that haunt us, rarely come to pass.

Defeating language can trap you in a negative mentality, without ever being aware of it.

Often when we’re overwhelmed, it’s because we’re focusing on the wrong thing; on the problem instead of the possible solution… what we fear or don’t want, rather than on possibilities or positive action. On the defeat rather than the victory.

By dwelling in fear we die a thousand imagined deaths.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

The Fastest Way to Get Unstuck

As indicated earlier in the ‘Four Steps to Get Unstuck‘, the fastest way out of fear and overwhelm is through gratitude. Gratitude opens the area of our brain that connects us with creativity, joy, love and… art. Art expressed from this place brings light and beauty to a world in need, and frees us to create more, do more, be more.

Gratitude opens the area of our brain that connects us with creativity, joy, love and… art.

Gratitude lightens and brightens a heavy heart.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®

Connect with Other Creators

Do not struggle alone.

The best way to stay on track is to surround yourself with others who are working in similarly creative endeavors. If you have friends and/or family who have similar aspirations to you, that’s fantastic. If not, then it’s important to your success to connect with a supportive social community such as the iCreateDaily Facebook community of creatives.

There are many other creator communities as well, in any area of interest to you. Just be sure that you focus on success and progress. Focus on what’s working and not on what’s not. Focus on the positives and that will fill your life.

We’re cheering for your success. You can achieve your goals, one step, one action, one day at a time. If you need help setting and achieving your goals, you may find the 90 Day Goals Journal helpful for getting out of feeling stuck in life.

“When you decide you want to elevate your thinking, get unstuck and be a happier and more successful person, you can.“
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.com®

Avoid Distractions That Erase Mind Space and Kill Time

While it’s important to connect with those doing what you’re doing and aspiring to, you’ll have to disciplined yourself not to escape into social chatting that doesn’t serve your aspirations. Consumption is the opposite of creation so guard your creative time with care.

Over consumption and distractions are like junk food to the health of your dreams. Distractions clog the channels of creativity rather than opening the time and space for ideas and inspiration. We love this excerpt by British author, Hilary Mantel, which sums up beautifully, the feeling of being stuck in life, and what to do about it!

“If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just sit there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.”
~ Hilary Mantel, British historical fiction author, 7/6/1952

Make an Empowerment List or Jar

• Make a list of things that inspire, empower and energize you.
• Keep adding to the list as new ideas come up.
• You may wish to cut these into strips of paper, fortune cookie style, fold them over and place in a jar. When you need a boost, pick one and take that action.

Here’s more on getting unstuck and breaking through creative blocks. You no longer have to feel stuck in life. You can move on to more of what you’re here to do.

Determination ends stagnation.
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily®

Spiral Out

If you do not like the loop that you’re in, you can knit a new one.

Consider a time when you were stuck in a negative loop or cycle.

How did you get out of it?
What difference did that make for you?
How can you apply that to an area of stuckness now?

Anything productively creative, will help shift you from where you are to more of where you want to be.

We Can Choose

We can get stuck in a vicious loop, or…

...we can spiral out of it to our next level of growth.

Spiral growth is in alignment with the spiral galaxy.

Spirals are expansive.

Ditch the vicious cycles.

You don’t need them any more.

Alignment – a Way Out of Pain

In our travels in India, we saw many lepers, a horrible third world disease which is still a big problem there.

Of the many physical challenges lepers have, the greatest is how the disease of leprosy prevents sensations.

Not feeling pain causes injuries that create bigger problems than the disease itself. It is not a pleasant thing to think about, let alone to experience, so I shall not elaborate. But the point is relevant relative to the role of pain in our lives.

Pain and discomfort has its place. If we didn’t experience it we wouldn’t be aware of the need to change. If we did not feel heat when touching fire… did not pull away from a sharp object, etc., greater harm would ensue.

Discord and discomfort comes from being out of alignment with our own soul and the truth of who we are. 

So rather than getting caught up in the pain or discomfort, what if we welcome it as a nudge from a friend, there to get our attention. The moment we become aware of that inner dis-ease, we can attend to it by applying the tools that help us whenever we’re feeling stuck.

When We Are Aligned

That may sound idealistic, but with a little reflection we can come to know the truth of it. When we are aligned there is no struggle, no matter the circumstance. When our outer life is not reflecting our aspirations, love and our lighted self, there is friction and tension.

The more we heed the signs within us and around us, the faster we learn and grow and the greater the joy.

So the next time you’re out of sorts, consider welcoming that feeling like an old friend come to visit… to check on you and see how you’re doing. Sit with it and ask it what s/he wants you to know, and what you can do to move into alignment with joy.🧘🏼‍♀️

And then… get up and move vigorously… in happy song, dance and exercise❣️🏃🏻‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️

Proven Benefits of Exercise for Health and Wellbeing

Exercise as a Treatment for Depression

Exercise always works for me, and for so many others. Now, if you go for a walk or jog, or to the gym, all the while telling yourself, “I hate exercise”, “I’m miserable”, etc., then you will continue to create your distress.

So as you’re working out, begin to also shift your thoughts to positive affirmations.

One of my earliest ways to counter not wanting to exercise, especially when it’s harder because I’m tired, was to practice gratitude. I remind myself how grateful I am to be healthy enough to be able to walk, run, bike and other exercise. There are those who can’t walk and would like to.

I know that 100% of the time, exercise elevates my state of mind and wellbeing.

Exercise for Mental Health

Get Gratitude.

The Day is the Way.

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How to Create the Future You Want

For more resources and inspiration, you may enjoy the following interview and/or the incredibly uplifting ‘I Am the Day’ song that follows.

Dr. Joe Dispenza With Aubrey Marcus

If you’re stuck, no matter the reasons, this may make a difference in your perception of your problems.

Dr. Joe Dispenza is transforming thousands of lives by helping people learn their own capacity toward healing themselves. He’s teaching us to free ourselves of the thoughts of feelings that trap us and cause us to feel stuck in life. Please gift this episode to yourself and your loved ones. The benefits may be life transforming.

WARNING: There are a few expletives by Aubrey, the podcast host… but don’t let that thwart your enjoyment of this most powerful message.

I Am the Day – Libera Boys Choir

One more incredible spark of inspiration for the heart and soul. This song and performance never fails to soothe and open my heart and reduce stress and anxiety.

The day is the way to transformation through creation.
~iCreateDaily.com®