Are you in a situation that makes you feel stressed out, drains your energy or makes you feel like you can’t get out of it? These type of situations can occur for everyone at one time or another. Sometimes these may be short in duration and then you move on. Other times they may be sustained durations that can really make it difficult. When these type of situations occur, it can create this feeling of being stuck. You don’t know how to move forward and you may tell yourself there is no way out of it.
This type of thinking is exactly what will keep you stuck in that situation. Stop for a minute and really ask yourself if that thinking is true. That there is nothing you can do? What if you imagined different outcomes for yourself? What if you tried just one new thing? Would it help you move forward? What if you talked with a friend, mentor or coach to get a new perspective on the situation? Sometimes just talking about it will help you see it in a new way and approach it differently.
The bottom line is that you have a choice. You can absolutely stay stuck where you are or you can do something to change how you see it. Just changing how you see things is very powerful. It sounds so simple, but it takes some real reflection and potentially collaboration with others to effectively drive that change.
Here are a couple of easy ways to examine the thinking you have towards a situation:
- Imagine that someone told you that the situation had to change immediately and you had no choice but to change it. Would that help you free up your thinking to come up with new ideas?
- What if they told you there was a better way and it was up to you to find it? Would this motivate you in a new way knowing there was a better outcome out there and you were the person leading the way to find it?
- What if you read a book or article about someone doing something similar to make this type of change happen? Would that inspire you to look at your situation differently?
Most of the time our thinking becomes so automatic we don’t even question it anymore. Is that happening to you? It is fine if the situation is serving you well and making you happy. However, if the pain of staying stuck where you are is so great, you will need to find a way to get out of it. Just changing how you think about it can be the first step to help you get there.