7 Reasons You Might Feel Stuck in Life
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It’s not uncommon for people to reach a stage in their life when they feel stuck. And this can happen at any time.
It can happen after working at the same job for many years and suddenly realizing that it no longer fulfills you — or that it never did. It can happen after attending an event like a friend’s wedding and then wondering why you haven’t found your special someone yet or why you’re not where you thought you would be at this point in your life.
Seeing other people reach milestones like this has a funny way of making you ask yourself questions like, “Why aren’t I further along in my own life?”
You can be any age and feel this way. But when you do feel this way, there’s a reason the feeling is there. It’s trying to tell you something. If you’re not sure what this sense of stuckness is trying to tell you, here are seven possible reasons you might be feeling so stuck.
7 Reasons You May Be Feeling Stuck
You don’t know who you are.
A journey of self-discovery is a wonderful way to find clarity for your life. When people live fast-paced lives that don’t allow them to take time to stop and reflect, they may continue to do things that keep them busy but that don’t help them move their life forward.
For instance, they may be in a career they only entered because of the money, the benefits, or the sense of security, or simply because they wanted to please their parents. But this job may not be fulfilling them because it’s not what they were meant to do. Without a journey of self-discovery or simply taking the time to get to know who they truly are, they may continue in that job until they retire, realizing only then the time they wasted doing something that didn’t make them happy.
If you’re in a place where your job or your relationships or your current situation aren’t fulfilling you but you feel stuck where you are, I would advise you to first discover who you truly are. Try new things. Look up self-discovery journal prompts online and answer them. Take time alone to ponder and reflect on your daily life and what about it is making you unhappy. Really take the time to figure out who you are.
When you do that, it can help you figure out what direction you need to go in to start moving forward.You don’t know what you want.
You might be feeling stuck because you don’t actually know what you want. You may have a sense that you want something more or different, but you don’t know what that looks like for you. Again, a journey of self-discovery can help with this.
And when I talk about this kind of journey, it doesn’t have to be a physical journey—although if you feel that traveling will help you discover who you are, by all means, travel. But I’m really referring to the inner journey of discovering your likes and dislikes, your favorite hobbies, the work you love to do, and the kinds of people you enjoy being around.
I believe that journaling can be immensely helpful when it comes to discovering who you are. As I mentioned in #1, you can look up self-discovery journal prompts online and respond to them. And you can also spend time reflecting on what exactly it is you don’t like about your current situation.
Identify what you don’t want, and then recognize that what you do want is the opposite. Once you have that clear, you can make a plan to go after what you want.You’re comparing yourself to others.
As I mentioned above, one reason you may be feeling stuck is because you go to events (or scroll through social media), see people who seem to be further along in their life than you are, and wonder what’s taking you so long to get where you want to go.
The thing is, as you’ve probably heard it said before, everyone is on their own path. That means the right time for other people to do certain things might not be the right time for you. Instead of allowing comparisons with other people’s progress to make you feel stuck, why not focus on moving at your own pace, even if it seems slow by the world’s standards?
I know we have a term called “late bloomers” for people who seem to “bloom” later in life than others. But this is just a label. Like flowers, people bloom when they’re ready to bloom. They may be late when compared to other people’s standards, but they’re right on time for who they are.
If you’re someone who feels they haven’t “bloomed” yet and you feel stuck for this reason, please remember that your life will unfold on its own timetable and no one else’s.You can’t see your blind spots.
If you’ve ever learned to drive, you learned that you have blind spots around your car while you’re driving. If you want to see these areas, you have to make a conscious effort to turn and look at them. And this is important for doing things like changing lanes.
In life, when you want to get unstuck, it’s like changing lanes on the road of your life. And when I refer to blind spots, I’m talking about the wonderful parts of you that you can’t see because you’re too focused on things like your failures, your weaknesses, or your lack of progress. You have to be able to see these other parts to change the course of your life.
Sometimes it takes someone else to point out your blind spots to you, which is where having a trusted friend or mentor can come in handy. But you can also learn to see your own blind spots. For instance, you can take time to list out your strengths and lovely qualities. You can list out your victories and successes and think about what it took to achieve them.
To really make progress in life, you’re going to have to start relying on your strengths while also being aware of your weaknesses. And that means you have to know about both.You’re not learning.
There’s a good chance that you don’t yet know everything you need to know to make the changes necessary to move your life forward. You might know some things, and I believe you can and should get started with what you already know. But you’re also going to have to spend some time learning new things.
For instance, maybe you’re an artist who would like to add another income stream to your business. If you’re not already aware of other ways to make money as an artist, you might want to spend some time learning about other ways to monetize your art or the skills you’ve developed as an artist. If you don’t take the time to learn these things, it’ll take longer for you to make the progress you would like to see.
And while you can figure these things out on your own, why not invest some time or money into learning from people who have done these things successfully before? That investment could end up saving you a lot of time and money in the future.You’re not applying what you’ve learned.
There’s also a chance that you have spent time learning about what you would like to do next, but you’re not actually taking action on any of the things you’ve learned.
As I mentioned in #5, learning is good. And I believe there is a time for learning and researching when trying something new. But you have to balance that with action. If you’re only learning but never acting, you’re going to have a hard time making any progress in getting yourself unstuck.
So, if you feel you’ve already learned enough to get started, go ahead and get started. Maybe your first few efforts won’t be perfect, and that’s ok. You’ll learn as you go. And, yes, you will make mistakes, but you can learn from those, too.
In fact, you might learn those lessons even better than if someone taught them to you. And don’t forget that learning by doing is also a type of learning.You have limiting beliefs that are holding you back.
Limiting beliefs are, quite simply, beliefs that limit you. They limit your perception of your abilities. They make you feel small. These are beliefs that may make you wonder why you should even bother trying to change your life.
Some examples of limiting beliefs are, “I’m too young/old to do this,” “I don’t have what it takes to succeed at this,” and “I’m not smart enough to learn anything new.” All of these are beliefs in your mind, but they’re not facts. They’re thoughts you’re walking around with and using as excuses to not do what’s necessary to make progress.
The best way to overcome limiting beliefs is to replace them with ones that empower you. Here’s how each of the beliefs I mentioned can be reframed to do that: “Any age is the right age to do this,” “I have everything I need to succeed at this,” and “I’m smart enough to learn anything I want to.”
(When it comes to telling yourself that you have everything you need to succeed, you can think of it more as, you have everything you need to get started and are capable of learning anything else you need to know along the way.)
Another limiting belief that can really hinder people from making progress in life is this one: “I’m not capable of changing my situation. I need someone to do that for me.” This is another way of saying that you’re waiting for someone to come save you.
As I mention in this post, while I won’t tell you no one’s coming to save you since I don’t know that for a fact, I will challenge that belief by asking, “What’s stopping you from saving yourself?” When you really look deep, you’ll find that fears and other limiting beliefs are likely getting in the way.
I’ve only given a few examples of limiting beliefs that might be keeping you from moving forward. But the key to remember is that it’s only when the beliefs you live by are serving you that you can actually do what’s necessary to get yourself unstuck.
Final Thoughts
I’ve just presented a list of seven possible reasons you might be feeling stuck in life. But there are actually numerous reasons why you might be feeling this way. And without knowing the details of your particular situation, I can only give you a general idea of what the why might be.
Even so, I hope this list helped you better understand this feeling of stuckness that you’re experiencing. But if you feel you need more help getting yourself unstuck, feel free to reach out to a life coach, a therapist, a counselor, or anyone who you think might help you gain more clarity.
And just so you know, I offer life coaching services to people dealing with this issue. I can help you identify your blind spots and limiting beliefs so that you’re clearer on what’s stopping you. And I can also help you figure out what steps you might need to take to start making progress.
If you’re interested, you can click here for more information. But please know that life coaching isn’t a substitute for professional counseling or therapy.
~ Ashley C.
Note: The advice presented here is for informational purposes only. If you’re in need of professional counseling or therapy, please see a qualified professional.