The alarm is blaring.

You wake up. You brush your teeth. You wish you had time to workout, but you never wake up early enough. You take a quick shower, grab a cup of coffee, a granola bar, and you’re off to the office.

You spend an hour on your commute, dealing with traffic and construction and mindless talk radio. You’re already dreading the day.

You get to the office and watch the world pass you by. You act cordially with your co-workers. You almost fall asleep in a meeting, but somehow keep yourself awake.

The day is crawling by and you’re bored out of your mind. You have some work to do, but it’s not important, and will only take you about an hour of effort.

You browse social media on your phone, as you wait for the minutes to pass.

Its finally time to head home. You have another hour of rush hour traffic to look forward to.

You get home and think that maybe you should try to work on that project you’ve been thinking about for weeks. You don’t. Instead you order a pizza and watch the latest episode of [insert the current hit show on HBO or Showtime].

It’s getting late now and you’re in a full on food coma. You probably shouldn’t have had that whole pizza. You wonder how your life reached this point.

You think tomorrow will be better. You’ll wake up early, you’ll workout, you’ll get your work done, and you’ll finally start that project.

Feeling a bit better, you get to bed. Tomorrow is exactly the same.

__________

S

ound familiar? I think everyone has felt this way at some point or another.

You feel like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill for eternity or like a hamster on a wheel. You’re in an endless loop of mediocrity and unhappiness. You’re stuck.

This is normal. We all get stuck now and then. The question is, why does this happen? Often it is because there is something in our lives that we believe we should be doing that we’re not.

We think life should be different and it would be if we took action. This is where our choices come into play. We get to decide how we handle this situation.

Do we allow it to continue and remain in a state of perpetual discontent? Or do we take action and change it?

We all need to realize that being stuck is as much a choice as anything else. We either choose to suffer or we choose to take action. There is no reason that our lives have to look the same tomorrow.

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.Denis Waitley

I think there are three things you should do when you’re feeling stuck

1. Find the problem

First is to identify the real problem. It may not be your career. It could be relationships, health, dreams, and so on.

It’s not always apparent, but understanding what is causing your feeling of stuckness is the first step.

2. Clear your mind

Once you find the problem, clear your mind. This isn’t the moment for brash decisions. Instead give yourself some space to think and understand what you’re facing.

If you can travel, go on vacation. If not, take a weekend to yourself to be with yourself. At the very least try to meditate to gain some clarity.

3. Make a choice

You have two options. Either embrace the situation as it is or take steps to change it. Apply to your dream job. Travel the world. Go back to school. Change.

As they say, you’re either growing or you’re dying. When you find that you’re stuck, you can probably guess which state you’re in. Figure out what you can do to change your situation and do it.

If you don’t change direction, you may end up where you are heading.Lao Tzu

Sometimes feeling stuck is fleeting and it comes and goes. Sometimes it lasts for weeks or months. Changing something is the best way to get out of your funk.

Changes can be big or small and they may or may not work, but you’ll certainly have a new experience. You’ll be growing and actively trying to make your life better.

That’s all that matters.