When You’re Feeling Stuck, Read This

I know what it feels like to want to crawl out of your skin, your situation, your job, your life, a conversation, your relationship, your twenties, and leave it somewhere in a back alley. I’ve been running from feeling stuck my whole adult life, because I have to imagine that the only feeling worse than being stuck is probably death (really though).

I’ve bought plane tickets, driven 10 hours to a new city to sit in a coffee shop where no one knew my name, quit jobs, and taken sabbaticals. I’ve chased freedom into Central America and found myself in a house with nine young people in a remote village. I’ve moved more than I’ve stayed because I’ve been trying to find the opposite of stuck.

So, what is the opposite of stuck? When I’m running from feeling stuck, what am I running to?

Antonyms for stuck: unbound, detached, undone.

Meh. I’ve decided it’s freedom. I’ve been running towards freedom. And you know what’s funny?

I’ve been chasing something that needs to be redefined in many different seasons, having never redefined it. I’ve been chasing a definition of freedom that served me at 22, hoping it would still serve me at 29.

But freedom looks different in every stage of life. At 29, it’s security. It’s respect and balance in a work environment. It’s finding the sacred time to take care of my body and pour into my passions. It’s serving people with a full heart. It’s staying where I am.

Today, freedom isn’t Central America or yoga on the beach. It’s yoga in my kitchen.

And that’s okay.

If you’re feeling stuck, I suggest you clearly define what freedom looks like for you in this moment. Not what it looks like on your Instagram account, through the eyes of someone else, or even to your past self.

What is truly going to make you feel free (to be you, to do what you want, to live authentically, to choose joy) every day starting today? Ask yourself this question and sit with it. Often when you do, it’s not what you thought it was at all.