If you want to unstuck yourself. , you need to take a small uncomfortable step.
I like to share two of my experiences when I have felt stuck, and how small uncomfortable steps unstuck my situations.
- I was debugging my software and I had a deadline. I worked on it during the day and at night and the issue was not resolved. I decided to go to bed and deal with it when I wake up. Next day, I woke up at 4 AM with preoccupied thoughts of how that issue could be resolved. I attempted to find out the cause of the software bug for another 45 minutes and it was not successful. I was stuck and I felt frustrated. I realized that my peace of mind and energy is being compromised. I thought of asking for help from a co-worker. But I felt very uncomfortable. I need to be independent. What if the issue is something simple? What if it is something that I should know?
My peace of mind was more important to me than potential perception of others. I decided to take the uncomfortable step. I started crafting an email to ask for help.
All of sudden an idea came to me where to look for the cause of the bug which solved the problem. I had to take the first uncomfortable step to get unstuck.
- Few days later, I was debugging another issue and the source of the bug was not obvious. I was stuck! I was trying to use my will power to solve the problem. I was telling myself, I must fix this issue and then I can go for a walk. After a few minutes of struggle for answers I realized that my energy is depleted. I decided to let the problem stay unresolved and go for a relaxing walk.
While walking on a nature trail, all of sudden the line of code that had that issue showed up in my head. The issue was solved. I was no longer stuck! I had to take the first uncomfortable step to get unstuck.
Do you feel stuck at some aspects of your life? What is it that you are dreading?
- Is asking for help embarrassing?
- Is letting go of control difficult?
- Are you avoiding feeling certain emotions?
Be kind to yourself, value your wellbeing and challenge your beliefs.
Take a first uncomfortable step, you may get unstuck in a magical way.
Copyright .2021 by Shervin Hojat
I am currently faced with a different kind of stickiness. While watching TV at night I have been playing games for tokens. There are also huge prizes that one must enter that I often ignore just to see how many tokens I can get in a given day. They have been making my right arm and shoulder very sore from all the clicking and dragging exertion on the mouse. I told myself once I reached the top level I would stop going after tokens and just go after the prizes by entering. Instead I'm still finding myself stuck chasing tokens and ignoring the prizes. I believe I will have to take the first step and not go after any tokens at all. See if that works. My shoulder will thank me for it.
Ron