By Books Author Denise Turney

The earlier you recognize that you are stuck, the sooner you can break free. However, noticing that you are jammed isn’t always a cinch. Furthermore, and at a minimum, you could get stuck in one primary area.

Are You Stuck in These Areas?

For instance, you could get stuck in a relationship, a career or physical state. Examples of this include continuing to work a job you haven’t felt excited about in more than three years, carrying 20 or more extra pounds for two years or longer and staying in a relationship that leaves you feeling flat.

Settle for living a life that’s stuck and the experience could spread like contagion. At first you might feel flat in a relationship only to start to feel angry and unfulfilled at your job. Next, you might start questioning whether you made the right choice when you moved into your home.

Over time, more parts of your life might feel stagnant and stale. Forget living in appreciation. Everywhere you look, you might perceive little to be thankful for. This lack of appreciation affects your energy, potentially blocking you from perceiving and receiving the good you want, the very good that can get you unstuck.

Ways to Break Free from Being Stuck

To break free, first you must recognize what is happening. If you’ve slipped into the habit of lying to yourself, commit to being honest with yourself. The worse that might seem to happen is your own thoughts might reprimand, challenge or threaten you by telling you something bad will happen if you don’t return to the habit of lying to yourself.

Set aside time in the morning or evening, whenever you tend to feel more inwardly available, to think about how and why you got stuck. For example, did you stay at a job longer than you wanted because you were afraid that you couldn’t find a job that excited you and paid more (or the same amount) than what you’re current job pays?

Did you choose to stay in a dead-end relationship because you convinced yourself that no one else would want you? There’s a reason why you keep choosing to stay in a situation that you’ve outgrown.

Why You’re Staying in the Situation

Figure out what the reason is. The answer could provide clues to specific ways of thinking and actions you can take to get free and start to celebrate newness. Answers to why you keep doing what you know isn’t serving you also open your eyes, helping you to avoid falling into the same trap again.

Writing in a journal could help. Just start writing about how you feel about your relationships, work, physical health, responsibilities, etc. Focus on spotting fears that lie to you, telling you that you couldn’t possibly do better than you’re currently doing.

Put pen to paper and answer why you believe these lies. Avoid looking for someone to blame. The goal is to start to recognize how your mind is currently working. Getting free involves rewiring your mind.

Honesty is Key to Getting Unstuck

After you finish writing about why and how you got stuck, write about things you appreciate. Get specific. Don’t rush. Take your time, even if the process expands across one to two weeks.

The aim is to get comfortable being honest with yourself. Absent self-honesty, you might not break free. Next, pull out a spreadsheet or blank sheet of paper. Record what your ideal life looks and feels like.

Touch on specific areas of your life during this exercise. Also, think about what you want your life to look and feel like overall. The next steps require you to make decisions and get out and take smart actions.

Tips to Break Free

Create a column in the spreadsheet to record the specific actions you will take to get from where you are now to where you want to be. As an example, one entry might show as follows:

Career	Desired Situation	Required Actions	Action Date
Step into a role that requires 50% tech coding and at least 25% project management skills.	Work with a team of gifted tech pros, great communicators who commit to living with appreciation, team members who share, challenge and help each other evolve and awaken.	Update print resume Create a video resume Apply for 30 open jobs that fit my career aim	Complete all actions by end of the this month.

Keep yourself honest by recording specific actions you take. Also, record the outcomes from your actions. Getting unstuck, celebrating newness and staying free requires honesty.

Recording actions you take and when and the results or outcomes from those actions is important. It helps you to see what is working. And it helps you to see areas that need tweaking or a big change in your approach.

Review Actions to Get Unstuck

As you do this work, continue to write in your journal about how you feel and thoughts and ideas that surface. Once a week, review what you have written in your journal. Look at your spreadsheet once a week as well.

Should you get tempted to give up, especially if you don’t see the results you want as quickly as you’d like, remind yourself that a change in choices and actions will eventually produce a noticeable result. Motivate yourself daily by reading empowering messages like motivational questions and short empowering writings.

Prove You Love Yourself to Break Free

Show yourself that you love you. There are countless ways you can do this. For starters, you could:

• Write yourself a love note once a week. Place the note inside a card that you open on a Monday morning.
• See your connectivity to all that lives. Let the appreciation you have for pets, friends, colleagues, etc. expand until it includes you.
• Track loving thoughts and actions that you take toward yourself and others.
• Bless yourself with the gift of silence by sitting still once a day.
• Breathe deeply daily.
• Explore nature, allowing yourself to rest, be curious and recharge.
• Engage in creative arts that make your heart sing and jump with joy.
• Hug yourself.
• Look in the mirror and tell yourself, “I love you!”

Getting Out of a Stuck State is Healing

The more evidence you have that you really do love yourself, the more you might start to trust yourself. Valuing and trusting yourself can lift your confidence and stir up your courage, empowering you to take the actions you need to take to live free!

Open up to newness by celebrating good change that shows up in your life, even if the good change is a surprise, not something you were aiming for or expecting. Taking steps to get unstuck is a way to heal. Believe it or not, there’s a place within you that knows just what you should do and when to heal, break free and live in the wonder of newness! Open up to that place within you, listening to and following its guidance.