Feeling Stuck Is a Sign, Not a Sentence to a Life You Just Tolerate
The office with your name on the door. The cushy income. Expectations from yourself and everyone around you.
You go over all the reasons you should love your job every single morning. Still, it’s getting harder and harder to drag yourself out of bed every day… and it’s not just because of those fancy new linen sheets you treated yourself to.
Life looks enviable from the outside, but you just don’t feel satisfied with what you have. Don’t even get started on those lunch breaks that pass by while fantasizing about booking an Uber straight to the airport and jumping on the next flight to anywhere.
Something has to change, but you’re not entirely sure what, let alone how. It’s easier to just keep busy. You let your ego boss you around while everyone else around you reminds you how great you’ve got it. Yet in those quiet moments, you’re stuck wondering why you feel so unsatisfied. It’s that feeling of being stuck in a career that is no longer aligned with your deep personal goals and ambitions.
Once it starts, it grows like a weed. The more time passes, the more entirely trapped you feel. Unless you dig up the roots and deal with this stuck-ness, it will forever grow new shoots and entangle you deeper and deeper. (You knew there was a reason you never got into gardening.)
So, how do you pull these feelings out from the roots? What are the first steps to getting yourself unstuck?
Recognise
Never underestimate how much of a huge step it is to stop and listen to yourself. Life gets busy, especially when you’re a high-achieving executive. It’s all too common that we get caught up in the day to day and never actually slow down and take proper time out for ourselves.
Stop pushing that little voice down your to-do list. Ignoring it is not going to make it go away. Look inwards and listen. That inner voice has your best interests at heart. It’s funny how we listen to it without question as a kid, but as we get older we pay less and less attention.
Acknowledgement
It’s important to note that acknowledging your feelings is one thing, doing so without judgment is another entirely. The first thing we naturally tend to do when we realise we’re stuck is blame ourselves for getting into this mess. How did we not see earlier? Why did we say yes to that? How did we let it get this far?
Scolding yourself isn’t going to help. Not. One. Little. Bit.
Let it all go. It's not until we accept and acknowledge the place where we find ourselves now and how we are feeling that we can then give ourselves permission to make positive change.
Accept
Once you accept where you’re at and own it, things get a little more exciting. This is where your plan of action kicks off. A good place to start is by asking yourself a few questions:
What could I do today to alleviate how I feel even just a little?
What steps could I take now to lift me slightly out of this zone?
Who can I talk to? Who can help me?
What do I really want?
What does my ultimate work/life blend look like?
Don’t freak out!
There are some big questions on that list. Take some time to really consider your answers.
If you’re struggling to get clarity or you’re just wondering what to do next, I’m here for you. Helping executive women revive and redefine their lives is my passion. My purpose-built tool The Life Compass is a great place to get a bird’s eye view of your core life areas and help navigate you get back on track... a new track!
Book a complimentary discovery call
and we’ll help you get some perspective and create your plan of unstuck-ness. It’s so exciting once you get the ball rolling.
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