“Stuck is that long pause in the transition between safe and familiar to risky and unknown. Unstuck is leveraging the clarity of your purpose and passion to drive you forward.”
I have had several conversations the past few days with individuals who openly admitted they were “stuck.” As we talked about their condition it was apparent that what they were feeling was a reluctance to move forward toward what they thought they needed to be doing. As I probed further, it became even more obvious that what they had no passion for the mission or activity they were tasking themselves with. As a result, the road they were traveling contained more risk than they were willing or committed to invest in. They were not stuck as much as they were reluctant to engage.
Tackling a project, a goal, a mission requires a great deal of energy. Driving yourself forward in any undertaking has it challenge and its difficulties. Not every journey, in fact, very few journeys, are ever easy. They are rewarding, but not easy. If your heart and soul are not dialed into a mission, it is very difficult to engage, especially if you can see the hardships on the horizon.
Imagine walking up to the base of a mountain that you have absolutely no desire to climb. Your friends and family may attempt to convince you to give it a try and that this climb will be a great experience. You look at that mountain, hear their words, and examine the work, effort, and the investment involved and simply say, I am not up for this and opt out. The reason you opted out, you did not see the purpose or sense any passion associated with climbing that mountain. Some may think you were being stubborn in not going along; but, you had a clear sense of the challenge in front of you and you simply couldn’t engage. This is the same outcome as being “stuck.”
When you are feeling stuck somewhere, carefully examine the mission. Are you working on or committing to something that truly inspires you and is congruent to your passion and your purpose? If this occurs in the middle of a project or activity, go back to the original motivation that drove you to make this commitment in the first place. Did you make a commitment to something that connected with your passion and your purpose? And, be honest. It is likely that you convinced yourself this was a good enough idea to invest; however, now that you are engaged you realize you have no real interest in climbing this mountain.
Stuck is a pause as you evaluate the transition from safe and familiar into a new, risky, and challenging environment. The only thing that is going to move you forward with clarity and energy is connecting that mission to the passions and purposes that drive you. If it isn’t there, you will hit the pause button as you try to figure out how to get off the mountain you didn’t want to climb in the first place.
