motivation

Being stuck, by definition, means you can’t move. But there’s an important distinction between being stuck and being paralyzed.

I imagine being stuck as being trapped in a big, deep pile of wet mud—the kind it’s tough to lift your feet from because of the tenacious, suction-like grip it has on your feet. You have to work crazy hard to pick a foot up, and it feels a bit like you’re being pulled back down when you do. But being paralyzed is being truly incapacitated. “Paralyzed” is every muscle in your body tightening itself and never relieving that tension. “Paralyzed” is being instantly frozen, like what liquid nitrogen does to water.

BOTH ARE SCARY.

What if I never move again? How can I live my life if I am here forever?

While it is certainly difficult to move forward when you’re stuck, you have one saving grace: You can still move the rest of your body. In fact, your arms, torso, head, and your other leg muscles are essentially the only tools you have to gain the momentum and force needed to unstick yourself. You must move! It’s the only way out. And any motion is better than none.

If you’re staring at a blank page, incapable of thinking of a single thing to write, jot down anything, even if it’s gibberish, just so you can get out of the headspace of staring at the blank page that represents your current failure. If you’re cleaning your bathroom and you feel overhwhelmed by the sheer amount of toiletries you’ve accumulated, pick one that you know you don’t need and throw it away.

But whatever you do, don’t stay in the panic, don’t stay in the stuck. Often, the anxiety of being stuck is worse than the stuckness itself.

The next time you feel paralyzed, consider whether there’s some way you can move. Even if it’s not forward, at least it’s something to get yourself unstuck.