Stuck [stuhk]

Adjective

Unable to move from a particular position or place, or unable to change a situation

The door seems to be stuck.

How many times in our life have we felt stuck? Ever realized that when we want things to go our way and they don’t we often say to others “I don’t know why I am stuck”. Are we truly unable to change a situation or is it that we are frustrated that the situation is not changing as fast as we want or in the way that we want?

The day that I sat at my son’s practice as I always do I pondered the thought. What do I want my article to portray? What can I give to readers to drive home the idea of being stuck is really no more than an illusion and is not the true problem? I had already sat idle with no ideas in mind and my son’s practice would be ending soon. Here it was I found myself of all things stuck. I knew the feeling wasn’t because of lack of motivation. Believe me when I say that I was ready to have a direction that I was going with this article. I pulled out my phone. Watched YouTube videos of some of my favorite speakers hoping that something they would say would light a spark. I needed to have a foundation for the things that I would communicate. To no avail I came up empty. How can I motivate others who are feeling stuck when I myself am having trouble? Was I in over my head thinking that I could empower and enlighten others regarding the basic issues in life that we all struggle with on a regular basis? That’s when a light bulb went off. I should tell the story regarding my struggle with writing this article. Am I feeling stuck? That is when it came to me. Being stuck really is a frame of mind. It’s an impasse. Lacking clear direction of the next move or action. We as a society have become problem driven so that we can identify with feeling of being stuck. The reality is that we need to try a new direction or focus.

How do we fix issues bigger than questioning what to write about? Let’s look at feeling stuck in a job. If the issue is that the company’s core value and beliefs do not resonate with our own the answer is obvious. Finding a lack of motivation in our current role or lack of expansion in the company will require deeper digging and soul searching on an individual’s part. What truly motivates us and how we can put those qualities to use in a job is a question that we should ask ourselves. In terms of expansion, are we looking to make more money or does expanding mean that we are in a position where we have the availability to climb the ladder? These are just some of the questions that we have to start with in order to resolve the issue of feeling stuck in a job.

The feeling of being stuck is our body’s alert that our current position and where we want to be are not yet in sync. Peeling back the layers requires us to let go of what we think the problem is in any scenario. What we may refer to as a problem is truly just a driving force of something deeper that most of us have not yet uncovered. The “problem” is the thing we hold onto as a crutch to convince ourselves there’s a need for improvement. 

The next time that we feel we have a problem that leaves us feeling stuck we need to ask ourselves “Are we truly unable to move from a position or change a situation?” The answer requires us to alter our perception.