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“I’m stuck.”
“If I break it off, I’ll be desperately lonely.”
“If hate my job, but I’ll face a giant pay cut if I quit.”
“I can’t sleep at night trying to decide whether or not to sell my house.”
We all get stuck from time to time. Stuck in a role. Stuck in a rut. Stuck in a relationship.
Soon inertia settles in for a stay and hopeless snuggles in beside it. We may suffer when we are stuck, but it’s a challenge to move forward when we don’t know our next destination.
It’s easier to move on when we have the accurate address of the place we are headed.
But even when we don’t know the precise location, there’s a lot we do know. We know we don’t want to go backwards, we know we want to move forward, and we know we are tired of being stuck.
When we are stuck, we can spin with overthinking. Instead of ongoing analysis go to your heart for a listen or pay attention to what your gut is telling you. If I answered from my quiet place, what words would I hear? We can ask:
What is the direction that I want to move toward?
Do I need to learn more about potential destinations, or end my analysis paralysis?
Is there a single step I can take away from where I am?
We might fear the answers we hear, but when we see the direction, we no longer need to stay stuck. If know I need to end a relationship, perhaps I start to plan the needed conversation. If I’m worried about how I’ll make ends meet, maybe I ask a friend to help me rework the numbers on my budget.
We fear going in the wrong direction. We all fear taking the wrong path. But if our movement is forward, we won’t be going backward and we won’t be staying stuck. We won’t be too far off our path if our steps are small, and we can always choose a different route forward.
To get unstuck, we simply need to make a move. The move doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be far. But any move will give some amount of momentum. The moment you take that first step, you are no longer stuck, but instead are moving forward to what is next for you.
Coach Koenig
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