By Avery Baxter

Picture by David Lally at Wikimedia Commons

Feeling stuck is terrible. When you are feeling stuck, it seems as if nothing that you think, do or meditate on makes any difference. If your struggle is relational, you might pray that a colleague respect you and stop speaking to you in a condescending tone. You might even treat the colleague to lunch, schedule time to engage in one-on-ones with the colleague or ask the colleague to let you know if there is something that you could do or say to improve the relationship.

No to slow positive change

And yet, nothing happens. At best, your colleague treats you like a part of the team for a few hours, maybe even one to two days. Then, it’s back to normal. Speaking with human resources and your supervisor only backfire, as HR and your supervisor merely schedule a meeting with your colleague and share key points that you told them about the situation.

Depending on your situation, the problem could escalate in ways that you never imagined. In this case, the only change would be an unwanted change. Before long, you could start feeling stuck and like nothing that you do is worth it.

That’s just one example.

As an entrepreneur, you could feel stuck for a myriad of reasons. Slow to now sales is a leading reason why you might be feeling stuck. If you reach this point, get still on the inside. Check with your higher self and see if you still believe that it’s worth it to go after what you’ve potentially spent years seeking.

Feeling stuck could signal impending change

After all, feeling stuck could be a sign that it’s time to change course. It could be a sign that it’s time to focus on something different. Also, the feeling stuck experience could derive from the fact that a part of you wants to advance while another part of you wants to retreat.

One thing is certain, feeling stuck does not mean that things will never change. What it could mean is that:

• You are going to have to relinquish an old way of thinking
• Leaving a job, relationship, town, etc. is a must (even if you’re terrified to let it go)
• What you have been doing has run its course
• Old patterns are being broken up (again, it could really be time to let go of past thought and behavior patterns)

If you continue to struggle, consider working with a life coach or a therapist. Working with a therapist doesn’t mean that you are mentally imbalanced. It could mean that there are blind spots of thinking or behaving that you’re missing.

The sooner you see these blind spots and take action on them, the sooner you could start to move forward or advance. Here are some more decisions and actions that could help you to stop feeling stuck:

• Eat more natural foods and drink more fresh water
• Sleep eight to nine hours at night
• Turn off the television or radio and close the blinds at night to enjoy deeper sleep
• Write in a journal (This could help you to honor your feelings. Journaling can also help you to spot patterns.)
• Read positive books that are written by people who were once feeling stuck but who advanced
• Exercise outdoors for at least one consecutive hour a day (jumping in and out of your car to go shopping doesn’t count)
• Reduce or eliminate the amount of time that you spend with toxic, gossipy, back biting and manipulative people
• Speak three to five positive things about yourself in the morning and again at night (do this even if a part of your mind tries to talk you out of doing this)
• Say “I love you” to yourself when you wake and when you go to bed

List challenges that you have already overcome (You know you can succeed! You’ve already done it before!)


Believe in your higher self. Refuse to get comfortable with feeling stuck. It feels bad for a reason. You deserve to feel good. Make peace and joy your goals. Try different, positive actions and thoughts to free yourself from feeling stuck, so you can move forward. But, again, be open to change, including letting toxic relationships go (even if a part of you thinks that those toxic relationships are keeping you safe somehow).