I looked down at the text that came through the other day from a friend I used to work with. It oddly resonated with a conversation with another friend, even though there's no connection between the two people. The topic? Being Stuck.
Stuck in frustrating work situations. Stuck in relationships. Stuck in the same phase of life over and over and over again.
Looking back I've wrestled with being stuck for the majority of my adult life.
The Unstuck Years
Ironically, when I was kid I didn't feel stuck. In fact, I was rather oblivious of barriers; I didn't let anything stop me.
I wrote books and gave them to my dad to make copies - thus becoming a self-publisher at the tender age of 9. I'll have you know that I had three titles to my name and I was very proud of them. They were best sellers in my household. 
I set up lemonade stands and brownie stands in an effort to bulk up my savings account. (the brownies turned into a gooey mess in 101F weather, but it just meant us kids got to eat them, a win in my book).
I developed a food magazine when I was in 7th grade. It didn't last long, I found having to wear all of the hats was a bit challenging. I came up with different ways of doing class projects. Mostly I liked to do them by myself so I could get away without interference. (I was a quiet rebel, even in the early days).
I wrote and directed plays for the neighborhood kids. (I wrestled my younger siblings into playing with me.) I started groups in high school and schemed about owning my own business.
The Stuck Years of Adulthood
But something happened when I got in to the real world.
I got stuck.
Not once, but over and over and over and over again. In work, in relationships, in trying to make things happen- stuck, stuck, stuck.
It's the worst feeling, isn't? I used to hate it, hate it.
Thankfully, I was usually able to get unstuck again. The stuck may have hit, and it may have dragged me down, but it didn't hold me there for more than a year or so.
Looking back, I realize this is a gift- the ability to get unstuck.
If my whole life was one stuck-unstuck roller coaster, I'm not sure if I would be writing this post. It would feel like a perpetual stickiness all the time.
I think, to a certain degree, we will get stuck in new challenges as life progresses, as we grow and mature.
Let me differentiate between obstacles and stuck. Obstacles are normal, we face them and move on. Being stuck feels like there is something holding you against the wall, and you're helpless to do anything about it. We should not be getting stuck- without a solution to get unstuck- over the same issues over and over again. Continual "stuckness" erodes confidence and dreams and hope.
New Book Coming from the Continual Problem of Stuckness
I'm in the process of outlining my next nonfiction book. I'm pretty stoked about it. I finally caught on to a theme in my life- I get unstuck. And I realize I write about it all the time. In fact, the mystery novels I'm working on are all about the characters getting unstuck in personal and vocational problems while solving mysteries.
Right now, as with all books when they start, it is a blob of ideas and research.
This above image is my preliminary drawing for the design for the new gift book that will take over Somebody Needs You to Shine ebook. (Note: if you haven't signed up for my enewsletter, this would be a good time to do so!) Feel free to leave comments in the comment section below.
That eBook will encapsulate some of the concepts I will be writing about in The {He}art of Getting Unstuck. Originally, I was going to name it The Art of Getting Unstuck, but then I started playing with the world Heart. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that getting stuck starts in the heart.
It's a heart issue because getting stuck has a lot to do with feelings. Feelings are tricky. We don't always know what to do with them, except to hide them or cover them up with retail therapy or comfort food or marathon episodes of Wives and Daughters or six hours of Pride and Prejudice. Because we are confused by the feelings, we don't push through to getting unstuck.
Getting unstuck is both thought and feeling, mind and heart.
There's an art to getting unstuck, but it starts with our heart- our feelings and perceptions about ourselves and the world around us.
What about you? What do you do when you are stuck? I would love to hear your comments.
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