Feeling Stuck (When Your Dreams Seem Far Away)

 

I've previously written about feeling down and stuck in life. My most recent post on that was When You've Been Down for Too Long (two years ago now!), which you can read here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/02/when-youve-been-down-for-too-long.html

I've also written about feeling stuck when it comes to achieving your goals, particularly when it comes to manifesting with the Law of Attraction and how to believe in your dreams coming true. And I've looked at the Law of Assumption as an alternative way of manifesting. Although I felt some kind of shift earlier last year, I'm currently in a place where I'm feeling quite stuck not just in manifesting but in life in general. So I thought I'd take a look at working through it.

Why do we feel stuck?

We can feel stuck for many reasons- feeling like nothing has changed in our life in general for a long time, because of a particular situation in our life that's making us unhappy (a relationship/lack of one), job stress, health problems etc.) or wanting to achieve a goal but feeling unable to reach it.

It can be really hard and frustrating to feel like this. It's important not to blame yourself. Some things may be beyond your control and you could be suffering from trauma, experiencing discrimination or be in an abusive situation. I can't address these myself but I shared some links in my When You've Been Down Too for Long post. I'll share them again below, plus some more that may help.

 

Trauma:

Basic information about trauma and useful contacts: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/trauma/about-trauma/

Post from Dominee of Self-Love Rainbow which shares examples of trauma: https://www.selfloverainbow.com/examples-of-trauma

Discrimination: 

Basic info about discrimination and how to cope with it: https://www.apa.org/topics/racism-bias-discrimination/types-stress

Discrimination advice: https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/advice_information/what-can-i-do-if-im-discriminated-against/

Abuse:

Advice and support for if you're being abused: https://nnedv.org/content/if-you-are-being-abused/

Getting help for domestic violence (UK based): https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/getting-help-for-domestic-violence/

Moving past it

So how do we move past this feeling of being stuck? This can be very hard to do.

I wrote a bit about this in my When You've Been Feeling Down for Too Long post, under the Feeling stuck section: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/02/when-youve-been-down-for-too-long.html

In that post, I mentioned how, if you follow Law of Attraction (LOA) teachings, you'll often be told that to change your circumstances, you need to change yourself first. However, if you're feeling in a very down, negative place, the thought of changing yourself may feel very daunting.  

Note: For basic info on LOA, visit this post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

You may find this especially hard if you're having issues with your mental health (as I do). In that case, it would also be beneficial for you to work on your mental health, finding the best methods possible for you. 

Please note: If you are having mental health issues, please seek the advice of a doctor/mental health professional. I am not qualified to help, just someone who experiences mental health issues myself. :)

 

If you're interested in manifesting and have a mental health condition, you may find these posts helpful (please also seek help from a professional):

Manifesting and Mental Health- Part 1: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/08/manifesting-and-mental-health-part-1.html

Manifesting and Mental Health- Part 2: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/12/manifesting-and-mental-health-part-2.html

 

Although this post isn't completely focused on the Law of Attraction, I'm referencing it because it's something I'm interested in, along with general self-help.  

To answer the question of how you (we) can move past feeling stuck, I think that some things you can do are:

• Be patient with yourself 
• Find hope
  
• Work on your mindset 

So with the first one (be patient with yourself), it can help to have compassion for yourself. I personally feel impatient with myself when I fall into old patterns, especially with health anxiety. I previously wrote about this in a post about shame (part of my Feeling Your Emotions series).

Here is a video from Lavendaire on this subject of having compassion (I came across it after I started to write this post!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqF2F7bW8tA&t=50s

 

I'll look at the other two things on the list in the sections below.

 

Finding hope

I originally listed this after "work on your mindset", but I realised that it's quite hard to do mindset work if you don't believe it will do any good. So I'm covering this first. (Feel free to read whichever section you're drawn to first though.) :)

If you've been feeling stuck for a long time, you may be feeling despairing and hopeless. I wrote a bit about believing that things will get better and feeling hopeful in my When You've Been Down for Too Long post (in the How do you believe things will really get better? section): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/02/when-youve-been-down-for-too-long.html

 

Here are some more links about finding hope:

How to Cultivate Hope When You Don't Have Any: https://time.com/6327444/how-to-be-more-hopeful/

Maintaining hope in the face of uncertainty: https://mhanational.org/maintaining-hope-face-uncertainty 

Another article about finding hope: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/pieces-mind/201504/finding-hope

Video from Esther Bartikiw about 3 ways to regain hope (made around the height of pandemic but helpful any time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsvbA9HnoYg&t=1s

Believe you're no longer stuck

And now we come to the last point, working on your mindset. I was actually inspired to write this section by this Lisa Alexandra video (this video will change the way you manifest): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wluuA7Dn348

It's about feeling stuck with manifesting (Law of Attraction/Law of Assumption). See the section "You are stuck" (about 5.55 minutes in). Believing that you're no longer stuck is perhaps one of the hardest things to do. I'm not discounting "real world" problems because if you're just struggling to survive, changing your mindset is likely going to be very difficult. This may be seen as a "limiting belief" but I feel that we can't ignore the fact that different people have different circumstances. 

So if you're in a place where you're just trying to get through the day and you find that mindset work isn't helping you, it may be best to take a break and come back to it later. :) 

 

Having said that, I'll take a look at changing your mindset. Here are some helpful links:

A good post from Diana of The Chic Life about how you have the power to change your life: https://thechiclife.com/2023/12/you-have-the-power-to-change-your-life.html

6 Powerful Mindset Shifts (zen habits): https://zenhabits.net/powerful-mindset/

How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs (video from Lavendaire): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tSVLp0XKE8

7 realisations/shifts to help with anxiety, negative thinking etc. (Devi Sietaram video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOpAv0CHTW0

How to Achieve all that YOU WANT in LIFE! (video from Drishti Garg): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6CPCmCoOg

 

Update 19/3/24: I came across this video from Reinventing Poppy, about how it's not too late to change your life when you're in your 30s (or beyond) and thought it would be good to share:

Watch this if you're in 30s, lost and achieved nothing in life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDuRSC8TI8

 

So that's it for now. I found it  a bit of struggle putting this post together (I'm going through a bit of a stressful time right now) but I felt that it was important. I hope that you found it helpful. :) I've also included an extra section at the bottom with more resources if you're going through a hard time right now.

What do you do when you feel that your dreams just aren't coming true, or you feel stuck in life in general? 

 

Extra resources (if you're struggling right now) 

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

 

My posts:

When You're Struggling: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/10/when-youre-struggling.html

Law of Attraction 2.0: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/law-of-attraction-loa-20.html

Starting From the Bottom- Part 1: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/04/starting-from-bottom-part-1.html

Starting From the Bottom- Part 2: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/08/starting-from-bottom-part-2.html  

Feeling Your Emotions Recap (links to all current posts in the series): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/09/feeling-your-emotions-recap.html

Finding a Way Forward: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2023/08/finding-way-forward.html

 

10 reminders for when you're feeling low, stuck, lost (video from Lavendaire): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrl0FGXb-U&t=311s

Here's a video about feeling good about feeling bad, which shares an exercise for working with your emotions (it's from Anna Akana but I found it through this blog post): https://finding-hope.co.uk/2019/06/01/feeling-good-about-feeling-bad/

It's only around 5 minutes, so good if your attention span is low right now. :)  

 

Kailyn Bowman video about having a breakthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaq5EXz68vI

Affirmations to Carry You Through Difficult Times (Positive Provocations): https://positiveprovocations.com/2023/07/13/affirmations-to-carry-you-through-difficult-times/

 

Photo: Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-sea. Moonsparkle 2024.