Stuck in a life rut?

Like most of us, you have probably experienced times in your life when you’ve felt stuck. This can also be referred to as being ‘in a slump’, ‘in a rut’ or ‘at a roadblock’, and feeling like this can affect many areas of your life.
You can feel stuck in a career, a relationship or in a hobby. Basically, it feels like everything has come to a standstill. You may want to progress and move forward but for some reason cannot find the motivation to do so, or the way forward.
Sometimes, we can feel like something external needs to happen to us in order to take us right out of a rut. But, in actual fact, it is only ourselves that can cause us to become unstuck. You are best placed to understand your motivations, and while it may not be obvious initially, you probably have an indication of what is causing this plateau also.
Maybe judgements are flying around inside of your head undermining you and making you feel like there is no point in trying, because you are not going to succeed?
Or perhaps you have actually spent some time prioritising goals, placing actions around them to tick them off a list – but despite the thought and preparation you have given these goals, you are not reaching them?
Or maybe a certain job or career may give you a sense of security, and even though it might not be making you happy, you’ve told yourself it is worth staying in for the reliability of it?
Or perhaps it may be as simple as you having outgrown your current situation and wanting to push yourself to a new level. The evolution of your hopes and needs can be challenging to adapt to if your current situation is something you have grown accustomed to.
Most people will experience a spell of stuckness in their lives, it is actually one of the main reasons many people engage with a coach as they work to untangle this feeling.

New perspectives
The positive is that this feeling of being stuck won’t last forever if you don’t want it to. It can be scary, but there are always ways to change things if you are willing.
The first step should be trying to identify what is causing the ‘stuckness’. Work backwards to land at the answer. Sometimes it doesn’t take very long for it to stare you back in the face.
If not, try to get at least a broad sense of what might be feeding into your feeling of being stuck. Check in with yourself with a particular focus on your values and hopes. If you are living a life that is not congruent with your values, there is a high chance that fulfilment will be lacking.
Similarly, our negative thoughts and anxieties can have great influence, making it difficult to move forward, so it is important to reframe the task of getting out of the rut as positive, if this is possible.
Once you realise that you have the ability and resources to become unstuck, everything will change. Some people try to avoid responsibility as it adds a pressure that they might not feel equipped to deal with. It is generally most challenging for people who may be prone to perfectionism.
Or maybe you rely on the blame game, whether intentionally or not. Attributing blame for your situation to others takes you out of control of your own life and can push you further into a stuck position.
Take advantage of your ability to make decisions that will bring you out of your rut. Feelings of being stuck are natural and bound to happen at some stages of your life, but they don’t have to remain and be constant. Dedication to changing your perspective may be all you need to take the first step.