From bad to worse

When your life isn’t exactly what one would describe as good, you may find that you’ve developed a fear of things going from bad to worse.

It is this fear that keeps you stuck, stagnant and stops you growing to potentially start living a life that is better than your current circumstances.

From the outside it might seem frustrating that you don’t take action but for you, the person that is experiencing the situation, doing nothing makes prefect sense.

But the problem with doing nothing is that things have no change of getting better.

Getting unstuck

Often when we feel stuck or stagnant in life it’s because we aren’t doing the thing that we know we should be doing.

We’re living in a particular place when that we’ve now outgrown, we’re going to places out of habit doing things that we once enjoyed even though we’re no longer having fun or we’re eating things that don’t make us feel good even when we know better.

Often when we’re in these situations we’re unable to see what the issue is or what may be worth changing. It’s also much easier to complain about how you feel than it is to take active steps to make your life better. You might be bored, unfulfilled and feel empty yet you do nothing about it and sometimes that’s because you haven’t even figured out what needs to change.

Bored of anxieties

It’s been said that reassurance is something that we can’t get enough of. It’s strange to think about how we seek reassurance to keep our fears at bay but each time we get it we crave more and more often finding ourselves feeling stuck without it.

When you sit and watch a persons anxieties and fears play out in front of you, your immediate response is probably to console them with reassurance. You’ll find yourself saying things like ‘It’ll be alright’, it’s not necessarily because you believe it but instead because you don’t want them to feel low.

But reassurance is never enough so when the person continues on you might find yourself bored of the anxieties. It’s not that you don’t care but instead that you’ve accepted no amount of reassurance will change this persons mind so there’s no point in trying.

The lesson in all this is that sometimes people just want to vent, be heard and feel supported. Often that will work better to ease the anxieties rather than trying to use reassurance to make it go away.

Feeling stuck

Do you ever have those days when you feel stuck and even though you know exactly what you need to do to get unstuck, you still do nothing?

And what you need to do could be incredibly simple. It could be as simple as watching your favoutite Key and Peele sketch on youtube, listening to your favourite pick me up song or maybe a breathwork mediation.

You might feel like doing something simple won’t help or maybe you feel like you don’t have the time. But it’s important to make the time because the feeling of being stuck won’t go away unless you do something about it.

The best possible next step

Sometimes it’s good to have a statement that serves as guidance for the direction of your life.

When you feel stuck, stagnant and discontent wondering what to do next pick the best possible next step.

Close your eyes and ask yourself ‘What is the best possible next step I can take?’

Whatever answer comes up, do it.

It could be as small as turning off your phone or drinking a glass of water. It could be as big as resigning from your job or ending a relationship.

Once you take the first step if you still feel stuck ask yourself the question again, keep doing that until you no longer feel stuck, stagnant or discontent.

23 things to do if you’re stuck inside

A bunch of things to do for those that are stuck inside for a little while:

Declutter your closet
Tidy an area of your home that you’ve been putting off
Finish the book you’re currently reading
Start a new book
Phone a friend
Have a group video call
Watch a new series
Work through your ‘movies to watch’ list
Re-watch an old series
Start a blog
Write a short story
Do yoga
Write poetry
Write a bucket list
Write in your journal
Meditate
Listen to sound bowls
Bake
Drink tea
Make a playlist
Dance to your favourite song
Laugh (it boosts your immune system)
Have a bath with essential oils

Lastly, and I suppose most importantly, take care of yourself and those around you.