Feeling Stuck is a Choice
Are you feeling stuck in life or your current career? Do you often seek the company of those who will listen to your complaints and even agree with them? I’m going to propose an idea that might turn things around for you.
Feeling stuck is a choice. You might have many reasons why your current circumstances cannot change. But I’m going to share some ideas that might shift your thoughts on this.
I believe in the concept “You create your own reality.” Although many think of this as a “New Age” idea, created by Jane Roberts in the 1970’s, it has been around for a long time. Most of the great religions and philosophies have examples of this. For instance, “What you dwell upon you become.” – The Buddha. “It is done unto you as you believe.” – Jesus. Even more recently “We become what we think about all day long.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
You might fully embrace this idea in theory, but still find yourself feeling stuck in one or more areas of your life. This usually happens when we have a blind spot. If we have hidden beliefs that contradict this empowering idea then we get stuck. These hidden beliefs keep us from seeing the truth of our own power. The challenge is to discover these hidden beliefs and then change them.
Let’s say that you grew up in a family that expected you to follow in the family profession. You might have accepted this idea and gone to law school and finally became a lawyer. But after years in your profession, you find yourself unhappy in that career. You might have a desire to change careers but feel you can’t. You might convince yourself that it’s not that bad. You tell yourself it’s a successful career. You are part of the family business. But that nagging sense of unhappiness won’t go away. You have many reasons why you won’t choose to change your career…but in reality, you are choosing to feel stuck.
The interesting thing is that when we hold a hidden belief, it’s like wearing glasses where the lenses are a particular color. We see our whole world through the filter of that color. After a while we forget that we have those glasses on and we can’t remember what the world looked like without them.
Getting unstuck is like taking off the glasses with the colored lenses. All of a sudden the world looks very different. In our example above, we have an individual who might have hidden beliefs like “I can’t let my family down. It’s not possible for me to change careers. I have invested too much in this career to change now. This is the career I always thought I wanted.”
When we have a hidden belief that makes us feel stuck, we often blame outside circumstances. But the truth is we are making a choice to disempower ourselves. When we give power to outside circumstances, we are taking power away from ourselves.
Reclaiming our power begins with acknowledging the feelings that we are trying to suppress or ignore. Unhappiness, frustration or a sense of being numb are just a few of the emotions that can indicate that we might have hidden beliefs. By acknowledging our emotions we can begin to explore. Simply asking questions can start the process. Self-reflection can move this process forward but other times our hidden beliefs are simply not available to us. It can be helpful to have another individual to reflect our thoughts back to us in a way that can give us insights. A coach or therapist can assist in the process.
Do you embrace the idea that you create your own reality? Then making a decision to see how it can be different is reclaiming your own power. If you have been feeling frustrated with your current career, but can’t seem to get a sense of clarity, I encourage you to take advantage of my free 60-minute consultation call. We can explore what hidden beliefs might be holding you back and see what might be possible. You can schedule your call by clicking here.
If you have a time in your life where you were able to get unstuck and change your career, please share in the comments below. I would love to hear about your adventure.
