Transitional Friday: When You’re Stuck and Can’t Break Free

stuckHave you ever been stuck? Do you feel that you’ll never be able to break free no matter how hard you try?  Do you try and try to change things, but nothing never seems to work?

If you are, congratulations, you’re not alone.  I’ve felt this way for years now.  No matter how hard I try I feel that I can’t move forward.  This frustrates and discourages me to no end.

I wish I could say that I never grow frustrated and discouraged, but continue to plunge full steam ahead.  Unfortunately there are days when life gets the better of me.

So what do I do:

  1. Pray and seek God’s will—the first thing I do is to pray, tell God how I feel, ask for his guidance and direction and read my Bible.  There are days when I feel such great peace, but I’ll be honest there are other days when I wonder if God hears me.
  2. Continue to put one foot in front of the other—each day I continue to put one foot in front of the other.  Some days this is easier than other days.  At times I feel that I’m doing things by rote and just going through the motions, but then I remind myself that this is better than the alternative of just giving up.  I believe in you
  3. Share my feelings—I don’t have a lot of close friends, but I do have one or two people that I can be honest and share my feelings with.  Sometimes they just listen and that’s all I need.  Other times they will pray for me or we will brainstorm what to do.
  4. Not give up—there are times when I do feel like giving up, but I eventually snap out of it. I continue to move forward with my dreams and plans and I continue to believe that I’ll eventually turn the corner and have a break through.
  5. Seek Encouragement—my friends are great to encourage me and lift me up.  Sometimes they will send me encouraging words, quotes, sayings and scriptures.  Other times they will pray for me and that always touches my soul. I struggle terribly with depression at times and I can’t tell you how lifting such encouragement is to my mood, soul and attitude.
  6. Creatively Express my feelings—there are many times when I cannot find the words to express my thoughts and feelings.  prayerHowever, I’ve discovered two outlets that allow me to do just this and I feel that I’m worshiping God at the same time.  For me that is to write or journal my feelings.  Sometimes I may even write God a letter.  The second is through music.  Whether playing the piano or singing, I unburden my heart to God and he knows the words even when I cannot find them.  I also had a friend that introduced me to art journaling, and although I’m not an artist, I found this to be most therapeutic. Experiment with various techniques and interest to find one that works for you.  You may discover that you enjoy dancing or another creative outlet.
  7. Pray—I know I began with this, but I do a lot of praying.  Sometimes I have to check my attitude to make sure that I’m seeking God’s will and not telling Him what to do.  I have a habit of that and will even tell Him when I’m angry at Him.  He wants us to be honest with Him, but He also wants us to humble ourselves before Him to seek His will.  Ouch!  That’s a tough one!

 

Tweetables

When You’re Stuck and Can’t Break Free

Breaking Out of the Hold Pattern

Waiting Through the Storm