Feeling Stuck? Here are 3 ways you can get unstuck and have a great 2017.

At the beginning of each year, we come across many articles written on how we can have a great year. A year that helps us achieve our desired goals, whether it be in career management, having better health, creating better relationships, achieving work/life balance…. and the list goes on. We are given well-intended advice on how we can create meaningful new year resolutions and tips on how we can commit to our goals. We get instructions on how we can get clear on what we want, create manageable and measurable goals and how we can enjoy the process. Yes, I am guilty of playing my part in writing and sharing blogs that outline just this.

However, what happens when we are not in the right mindset to create the best year? What if each day we experience a feeling of being in a rut that zaps our energy and motivation? A feeling of being stuck and a sensation of dread.  How many of us are feeling this way right now? We all experience this kind of mindset at times, I know I have in the past.

Whenever we are feeling stuck in a rut we keep doing the same thing over and over thus creating a deep psychological groove that pulls us off track from living a meaningful life. When we feel this way, it clouds our judgement and plays havoc with the way we perceive events and circumstances in life. We may feel lost, uninspired and even downright confused about which path to take so we so we take no path at all. We cannot focus on creating a better new year when we feel this way. Before we can even begin to create resolutions for the new year and build a strategy for achieving our goals we must change our attitude. We owe it to ourselves to have the best chance that we can to achieve all that we want in 2017. A mediocre and a half-baked attempt at creating the kind of life we wish to lead just won’t work and we will find ourselves stuck in the groove again.

Feeling stuck isn’t a pleasant experience but it brings with it a hidden gift if we allow ourselves to see past the unpleasantness and focus on what these feelings are trying to teach us. The 3 things that I do to help myself become unstuck is firstly I examine what I am feeling, then change my perspective and start making small baby steps.  Let’s explore each a little further.

It’s just a feeling

The first thing is to acknowledge and accept that we are feeling this way and it is ok to feel like we are stuck in a rut. Carl Jung once said that “what we resist we persist” and I live by this rule. When we push away a certain feeling, pretending it does not exist it lingers on. When we accept, and acknowledge with honesty what we feel we create space for change.

Feeling stuck is an internal experience and it is important to remember this. Often when we feel stuck we find it easy to blame external sources of our feelings. This really will not solve anything. Take time to examine what you are feeling and what is your thought process around this? Do you have certain expectations or beliefs that are causing you to feel this way? We cannot control external circumstances but we are in control of ourselves. Examining and reframing our beliefs and our thoughts will create a different internal feeling.

When we change the way, we look at things, the things we look at change

What we focus on becomes our reality.  When we focus on the symptoms of feeling stuck – the dread, the boredom, the lack of energy and the lack of motivation that is all that we see.  We see everything through what I call the “feeling stuck glasses.” When we wear these glasses, we create events and situations that perpetuate what we see thus continuing the cycle.  Changing our perspective is all about refocusing our lens on new possibilities and not the symptoms.

It’s all about baby steps

When we have been feeling stuck for a long time it becomes our norm and it almost feels comforting because it’s so familiar. The familiarity of something is one of the main reasons why we continue doing things that we do even though on a rational level we understand that it is not working for us. Stepping out of the comfort zone takes courage, implementing change takes courage. Change can create new energy and it can shake up your habitual patterns. You do not need to have it all figured out straight away but make the commitment to do small things differently, will go a long way. It will build momentum and before you know it your baby steps will become big steps.

I want all of us to have the best 2017 that we possibly can. Whether it is having a great career, going back to studying, having a healthy body or even better personal and or professional relationships. It all starts with the right mindset. We can create a list of goals we want to achieve and create a workable timeframe in which we meet these goals but we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we attempt to do this with the same attitude that created the feeling of being stuck.