Do you ever just feel stuck? Like you feel that you won’t ever be able to change things in your life and that there’s no hope?

If so, keep reading….

The sign you’ve been looking for

Change isn’t easy. It takes effort & a great deal of energy. And I believe that can be a major reason as to why most people would rather just carry on with their life as they are, even if they know deep inside that their current situation is not the best.

But if you’re holding yourself back from your full potential, or if you’re feeling stuck & hopeless with where you are, this is a MAJOR SIGN from the universe telling you it’s time to make a change.

Something isn’t right

Many of us know the feeling —when you sense that something is just not right in your life. You aren’t exactly sure what it is either. What you do know, is that you feel dissatisfied or unfulfilled with how things are going.

You may even have some goals you’re starting to work towards, but find that you mostly procrastinate on them. Your reason is because “you have too much going on,” or “there’s just not enough time in the day.” And so you go through the motions everyday, just feeling angry really with yourself & with life for how unfair your situation is. Maybe you even get to a point where you believe this is how it’ll be forever— living a life where you will forever feel stuck, doing the same things you’re unhappy with, over and over again.

It’s okay to not be okay

It happens. Sometimes we get stuck. And that’s okay. What’s NOT okay is if you just accept the feeling & then allow yourself to stay there. If we do not cultivate mindful awareness around this feeling of stuck-ness, and how it’s only a temporary feeling, it can really get us thinking & truly believing that things will never change.

The feeling of “being stuck”, or “hitting a wall”, or “not making progress”, or “feeling stagnant”, or “moving in loops” is common. Many of us experience this from time to time. But it doesn’t mean that all hope has to be lost. You can rise up from that feeling. I know, because I’m living proof to the truth that we can get unstuck.

In my life, I’ve been stuck many times — and it turns out there’s ALWAYS a way to get through it.  But it’s not by turning away from the stuckness or by doubting your abilities, but instead by believing in yourself & turning towards it. By going through it. By embracing the feeling, and letting it unstick itself.

I’m going to share a perspective that includes a few principles I use to help when I’m feeling stuck. Read through and consider applying all or some of the principles to your own reality. In doing so,  I am confident that you will notice a shift and it will help you to experience freedom so that you can finally start creating a new path for yourself.

Ways to get unstuck

There are many different strategies or techniques you can use to help yourself get unstuck. But here I’m sharing a few mindful techniques that I use and that have worked in the past and that still work for me today—

Here’s a list of 5 things I consider to be extremely helpful to get you to unstuck yourself:

Challenge yourself to turn towards the difficulties —

Sometimes all we may need to do to unstuck ourselves is to simply take a good look at what’s troubling us in the first place. What happened right before you started to feel stuck? What were you doing? Where were you? Who were you with? What else is going on in your life? Take a good like at your life & pinpoint what it is that’s holding you back… because not much will change until you turn towards it and face it. A willingness to turn towards the difficulty and work with it is one of the most important & fundamental requirements to change.

To be better, you got to do better—

If we want something different to happen, we have to decide to make a change. It’s really that simple. Yet what happens is we get stuck in an in-between state, where we want to change but we haven’t made a clear decision to do so. We let our circumstances or setbacks, set us back on and we allow ourselves to stay there. Set intentions. When you do this, you’re creating a clear decision to take action, which means you let go of all of the “should I do this or maybe not?” kind of self-talk, and you just do it. 

Be compassionate with yourself—

When we keep doing the same things over and over again, we can get really down on ourselves. We get disappointed, discouraged, frustrated, and it creates a negative self-image for ourselves. (Trust me, I know the feeling!) But we need to understand— none of that helps us get unstuck — it only adds to the stuckness. So what would it be like to be kind to ourselves instead? That doesn’t mean we don’t try to change … it just means we stop beating ourselves up & eliminate the need to constantly feed our minds with such limiting negative beliefs.

Find your ppl— 

Most people try to get unstuck and make a change by themselves. Apparently this feels “safer,” (because trust issues). And it’s okay. Just understand that this means you’re doing something tough on your own — which can work sometimes, but often doesn’t work. What I’ve found to be immensely powerful and effective is to seek support/connect with others. Find a group (the zen space private Facebook group), do a challenge, get accountability, find your tribe to run with. You will find that it helps to not be alone, and to get support when you feel like giving up.

Progress, not perfection—

You’re not trying to be perfect at this. You’re trying to just navigate in the right direction. Feeling stuck? It’s okay. Breathe, reflect, show yourself a little love & continue to keep making progress, and let go of small misses. You are much grander than this moment. Recognize your power my friend. You are worthy and capable!!!!!! 

Hi, I'm Victor Padilla, founder of Zen Space. A place where you can feel a sense of human connection, community support, and mental clarity -and not feel so alone.

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