We've all been there, that heavy, really sluggish feeling of being stuck.
Maybe it's a creative block, maybe it's just a lock of motivation,
or it could be the sense that everyone in life is moving forward around you while you stand still.
When this happens, self-care isn't just about bubble baths and manipuddies,
although I will always recommend a good bubble bath to everyone.
It's about gentle, intentional actions that reconnect you with your energy and purpose.
So today I'm going to share with you some of the reasons we might get stuck
and how we could start moving forward.
But before we get into that, can I ask you guys a favor?
Now, if you listen to me on a regular basis, I love you so much,
and I love that you come here and hang out with me every week.
Or if you knew, and this might be the first time you're listening to the podcast,
if you find the podcast helpful and valuable, can you please subscribe, share,
and share a rating on Apple Podcast because this really helps us get in front of more people
so that we can help more people.
Thank you so much in advance, and let's get into today's episode.
You're listening to the SoulAlign Self-Care Podcast.
I'm your host, Tina Stinson, and I had a stroke at the age of 39 from stress
and burnout that shook my world.
Now I'm laying it all out, the deep-level self-care practices and mindset shifts
that I needed that kept me healthy, balanced, and thriving.
Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience, and a soul's journey to alignment.
This is where real conversations about deep-level self-care happen.
Let's get into it.
[Music]
Hey guys, welcome back to the SoulAlign Self-Care Podcast.
I'm your host, Tina Stinson, and I want to thank you for joining me today and spending time with me.
So today I'm talking about a topic that I actually talk about quite often.
And this is something I experience myself, and I think it's pretty normal to experience this
on a regular basis. We have these ebbs and flows in our lives where sometimes everything
feels like it's going right, and sometimes it feels like everything's going wrong, and then we have
these times where we're just stagnant. And I believe that there's a reason for this.
You know, sometimes I think it helps us gain perspective of where we're going, and it helps us
kind of almost recalibrate and decide where we want to go.
Sometimes I think it's meant to just let us rest. Sometimes we need some rest.
But there's other reasons why we get stuck. So one of them could be just, like I said, you need
rest. You're overwhelmed. There's too many options. There's too much pressure, and you just need to
like just take a break for a minute. Others can be fear. So fear of failure, fear of success, fear of
the unknown. We have a lot of this going around. There's a lot of fear in the world right now,
and it's really hard to kind of like stay focused and tune it out without feeling like you're sticking
your head in the sand, right? Then sometimes it could just be disconnection. Disconnection from our
bodies, our intuition, our joy, being unaligned with yourself. When you're unaligned, this is a sure sign
of being stuck or vice versa. When you're stuck, a lot of times you're not aligned with the things
you're doing and your body is trying to tell you something. Now another thing is it could be a moment
of transformation in your life. Sometimes when we go through a change in our life, it feels difficult
and we can't move through it fast enough, right? It's uncomfortable. We don't want to be there.
So we feel stuck even if we're moving at a snail's pace. Sometimes we move at the pace that we can
kind of absorb and tolerate. Sometimes if we moved any faster, it would be too much for us. So
sometimes being in a stuck feeling, it might be good for us. So taking a look around you and maybe
taking that time to rest and kind of like regain some of your resilience and strength is not a bad idea.
So the key is it's not not to force you away out of it, but to create small openings for movement.
Small actions always create big transformations over time as long as they're consistent, right?
So today I'm going to talk about some self-care practices that you could use to kind of like loosen
this up a little bit and feel a little less stuck. It's not about like moving forward, like super, super fast.
I know that we all want that. I don't know. I want that too. But sometimes when you look at things in
hindsight of things that you've gone through in the past, you realize that there was a reason for that
slow movement. Maybe you had something to learn. Maybe you needed that rest. Maybe you needed to
kind of redirect yourself. It was your intuition or your higher self's way of telling you that
whoa, maybe check on your core values and see what's important to you now. Maybe you need to move
in a different direction. So I think that a lot of the things that happened to us, whether we're
feeling stuck or not, are meant for us in a positive way. So start trying to be the detective
and look at the reasons why everything might feel stuck right now. Okay? So some of the things,
I'm going to go over a few ways, like really quick ways that you could help yourself move forward.
They're really simple, easy, but done consistently over time create monumental transformation for you.
So one of the things we don't remember to do is to celebrate when we have those little wins,
even if they're small. So we might be feeling really stuck. And maybe in the past, we just kept moving
forward and forward and had all these successes and just kept moving forward and we got used to that.
And then all of a sudden, nothing's working out and we're feeling stuck. And even when we have
those smallest little wins, we're not paying attention to them when we're not celebrating. So make it a
regular thing on a daily basis to choose one thing that you can do in your life to move forward
in some way, shape, or form, but then like celebrate it that you did it. And every action we take
moves us in a direction. Okay? So every time we take even the smallest actions, it could be
dressing differently. It could be replying to an email that you normally wouldn't reply to.
It could be taking care of a friend or a family member. It could be a short walk with your dog outside.
It could be a short conversation with a stranger. Whatever it is, it changes the trajectory of your
life. These small little actions we take are like little turns that we take. So like, think about when
you're riding a bicycle. Every time you take a turn, you can end up at a different destination.
It's the same thing when we make choices in our life. But we also have to look at those choices
and when it moves us in a positive direction, pat yourself on the back and say, okay, this is great.
This is movement. I acknowledge the fact that you're creating this momentum in your life towards
something more positive and that you're not actually stuck. It's about paying attention to the
movements you're making and not just like writing an office something so small and so insignificant.
Everything has significance. So momentum will build from micro actions. So think about if you're
feeling overwhelmed and you're like, oh my god, I'm so stuck, nothing is happening. Think about
one small action that you could take today, one small thing that you could do and after you do it,
celebrate the fact that you moved yourself in a direction, whether it's the same direction you
want to go in that you've been working towards for a long time, whether it's a different direction,
whether it's something that you've always wanted to do but never felt like you could do it.
Whatever it is you decide to do is the right decision and it is moving you forward, okay?
And when we celebrate and acknowledge those things, we want to do them more. We realize that this
is a positive force in our life, okay? So that's the first small action that you can take that will
help you move forward, okay? The next thing is ask yourself, what's the next right thing? So sometimes
we get stuck when we're overwhelmed. We might have this big goal and we might have like all these
steps that we have to take to get to that big goal and it just feels so overwhelming, so overwhelming.
So you don't need to know the whole plan ahead of time as a matter of fact if you think about one
really big goal that you reached in your life and then you looked back in hindsight and you saw all
the turns and mountains you had to get over to get there, you would never have guessed that you would
have taken that path. It would never have gone that way, right? And I really do think you should
think about it, like think about something that you achieved and think about all the steps that you
took to get there. Would that have been the way you would have planned to go, okay? We don't need to
know the whole plan. We just need to know the next step and when we focus on that next step then
we don't get overwhelmed, okay? And a lot of times depending on the step that we take and the
the reaction we get from that step, the next step after that might be different than what we planned.
So sometimes planning out everything ahead of time could be almost a monumental waste of time.
Sometimes just knowing that next step is enough. You know, write it down and if it feels too big
break it into like tiny little steps. But all you have to worry about is the next thing and then
just wipe everything else out. It doesn't matter if you, if it doesn't matter if you know every single
step on the way to your goal. The joy is figuring out the steps to take along the way. The joy is
climbing the mountain, not reaching the top. I mean it's cool when you reach the top and we celebrate
when we reach the top. But most of the fun you have is getting there. Ask anyone who's really
successful. You know, ask like the famous pop star about, you know, what was the best time of their
life and usually it's when they were working towards that goal to become the famous pop star, right?
So all you need to do is ask yourself what's the next right thing, the next step that I need to take
and that's it. And then when you're done with that then you say the same thing to yourself.
Now after I finish that and I celebrated that when of moving forward, what's the next step now?
Okay. So that's just a really simple way of taking a lot of the stress and overwhelm out of the
the picture and helping you have more fun and joy in the everyday steps that you take along,
you know, along the way helps you enjoy the ride up to your success. Now the next thing is
to check in with yourself, okay? So every time you figure out one of these next steps, right, to
move forward, check in with yourself every couple of days and ask yourself, did I take that step?
How did it feel? And then adjust from there, okay? So that's part of taking the next steps and that's
part of why the steps change along the way. You might take a step and maybe it didn't go right,
it didn't go the way you planned it and you're like, okay, I need to adjust that, okay? I need to go
in a different direction or I need to not do that. I need to do this instead, okay? So the check-in
is really important because you can go right back into feeling stuck if you're not checking
out with yourself every couple of days, like every three days, every week, whatever seems to go,
you know, seems to work with your schedule, but check in with yourself and then ask yourself the
question, how did it work out? What do I need to shift? What do I need to change? Do I need to change
my direction? Do I need to, what did I need to learn from what didn't work out when I took that step?
You know, so if it didn't work out, what did I learn? How can I have success taking that same step
or moving into a different step? Okay? So that's the next thing you should do. Now the last thing I
want to talk about, I think is the most important thing, especially when you're feeling really, really
stuck and I've been here so many times in my life every time I'm going through a transition, a big
transition in my life, I always feel this way. I always feel super, super stuck and one of the ways
you could really start to get your brain out of that because then once you feel stuck, you're like,
oh my god, I'm so stuck and then you're so focused on being stuck that you remain stuck. So one of
the ways to like reprogram your mindset is to change the way that you do things, change the way you do
everything maybe. Sometimes it's just changing like the everyday things that will create the
momentum you need to make the bigger changes start to come into your life. So maybe driving a different
way to work or you know, to the food store. Maybe it's dressing differently, trying to take on a different
persona, right? Maybe it's dropping some bad habits, maybe it's creating some new habits, maybe just,
it's just changing what you have for breakfast every day, lunch or dinner, right? Getting some new
recipes, changing those little things, changing your morning routine. I do this all the time now. I
have a really positive morning routine, but sometimes when I'm feeling stuck, I just want something new
and so just changing it up. So instead of maybe like waking up and meditating right away,
maybe waking up, grabbing coffee and reading my book, doing something that's really, that's not always
the right thing to do, the most beneficial thing to do, but the fun thing to do. Reading like my
fiction book for a little, you know, a little bit, you know, and then maybe meditating later on in
the day, just like switching it up a little bit, maybe doing some breath work or maybe just doing some yoga.
You know, maybe instead of eating breakfast right away, maybe I'm going to go for a walk with my dog.
Maybe I'm going to get up earlier and get out of bed right away, go for a walk, exercise,
and then have breakfast. Like just change it up and see how it feels. You know, maybe your routine
should change with the seasons, you know, on the winter, maybe staying in bed, having coffee in bed,
and cuddling with your dog or your cat feels really good, but in the summer, it doesn't feel good.
The outside is calling you. The birds are saying, and you just want to get out and go for a walk.
So changing your morning routine or you could change your night routine. So what happens is,
you know, when we start to change up all those little things in our life, just like I talked about
earlier, it changes the trajectory of everything, you know, like taking that, you know, driving a
different way to work in the morning, say you stop for coffee, I've talked about this a million times
before, you stop at a different coffee shop, you meet new people, you know, there's a different person
behind the counter that you have to get to know, you don't know their name yet, you could smile at them,
you know, talk to them, say hello, how is your day, whatever, but you just met a new person,
and maybe you'll be confronted with that person, maybe you won't, maybe you'll brighten their day
if they're having a bad day, and then if you brighten their day, then they're going to brighten
someone else's day. So changing up the way you do things has this like, this ability to just change
the whole trajectory around not within your life, but in other people's lives too. So maybe dressing
differently will like different people will notice you or someone that you know will be like, oh,
you look really beautiful today, you look really good in that color, maybe you're the type of person,
like me that wears black all the time, and then all of a sudden you're going to wear like all these
bright colors, people are going to notice they'll say something to you, and it'll make you feel
differently, it'll make you present yourself differently. So these little things that seem so
insignificant, those little steps that you take in your everyday life, make a big difference when
you change them up, it really, really makes a big difference. When you're stuck, like, stuckness itself
is not, it's not forever, there's no possible way, like, it's human nature to evolve and move forward,
right? So stuckness is just like a little season, it's not like a life sentence, it's not going to
be forever. So be kind to yourself, first of all, you know, just maybe this is a way for you to start
practicing self-care and being kind, practicing self-love, doing things for yourself, enjoying yourself
more, progress doesn't have to be dramatic to count. So as I said, I have been in this
in stuckness for a while, and whenever I'm dealing with something that's difficult in my life,
that's what I talk about on the podcast, like anytime I want to learn something, you know,
that's when I try to find a guest on the podcast that's going to help me learn that. So I'm definitely
in a stuck season in my life. I believe I'm experiencing a moment of really great transformation,
like this is a really big, I could feel it, you know, it's like I'm moving from one era to another,
and I feel like I'm moving into like a new era of great freedom in my life. I can almost feel it,
like, it's like on the edge of my life, if that makes sense, I could feel it about to enter my life,
but it's not quite there yet, and I don't know why. It's really hard to explain the feeling,
but I'm sure you felt that, like you feel like something's coming, but you don't know what.
So right now I feel stuck, but I have patience because I know that transformation takes time,
and I have faith and confidence that what is on the other side is going to be amazing,
and I also have faith and confidence that this time of stuckness that I'm feeling is something I need
right now. It's meant to support me in some way, shape, or form, so I'm willing to investigate
why that is and take advantage of this time, maybe rest, maybe have fun, whatever it is that I feel
good about. So I know if I keep following my joy, which is our job as human beings is to figure out
what makes us happy and do more of that, and I also know by taking care of myself at the deepest level
and all the areas of my life that everything will keep moving at the speed it was meant to move,
and if that's slow right now, then that's what's meant to happen. So if this is you, don't get impatient,
don't get frustrated, and don't give up. Just keep moving forward with these little steps that I
talked about today with small steps that are enhanced with your faith and your joy, and we will all be okay.
So now it's your turn. What's one small thing that you can do this week? And if you want to share it
with me, you could share it with me on social media. If you go into the show notes, you could see my
Instagram. You could also go over to my Patreon where you could follow me for free and communicate
with me there. Just make a comment on one of my posts. I always share the podcast on my Patreon too,
so I would love to hear from you guys, and I would love for you to be in the realm of the sole
of my self-care community so that I could communicate with you. So I'm here to cheer you on,
so let me know in the comments on some of my posts, either on Instagram or on Patreon, wherever you
feel comfortable. So now if you need more help with this, I have a new bundle that I'm sharing. It's
called a Shift and Shine bundle, and it's only available until the end of this month, and you could
learn more about it and grab it. The link will be in the show notes that tells you everything that's
in the Shift and Shine bundle. It's absolutely amazing that will help you support you in taking these
steps to get unstuck and move forward. Okay guys, until next week, I love you, and be sure to take
that next small step. Bye!
