The Myth of I'm Stuck

This is one of my personal guilty favorites as I am a frequent offender of using this as an easy out when I bump up against a difficult situation in my life -- that is, unless I stop for a moment and ask myself, " Okay, stop yer whining,...What's really going on here?"

The "I'm Stuck" answer as a way out of things I think may come from our own early childhood experiences. When we wailed, "I'm stuck" to a parent or teacher often they would, more times than not, rush to our rescue and finish the job for us. Crisis averted--job done for us.

So why give it up?

Because saying "I'm stuck" is a lie.

Well okay, maybe a little one.

We may feel like we are stuck--we don't have the answer, we can't figure out our next move, but go a little deeper and I bet you'll find that saying "I'm stuck" is not really what you mean to say. What you might really say if I injected you with 10 ccs of truth serum is:

1. I'm scared.

2. I don't want to do this.

3. I'm afraid to try something different.

4. I'm too lazy to deal with this now.

5. I want to stay in my miserable Comfort Zone.

6. This is too hard.

7. It's easier to give up.

8. I want someone else to deal with this for me.

9. I don't like change.

10. I hate responsibility -- especially when it comes to myself.

By using the "I'm stuck" way out and expecting people to always come to our rescue, with both hands we're handing over our personal power to someone else which means we're throwing in the towel about our own abilities to figure out answers. Now there are definitely times where legitimately, we are stuck and need some real help --- burning buildings, power tools, geometry, world peace. But on most matters, feeding yourself with a steady diet of "I'm stucks" will reward you with a whopping big case of low self-esteem. So the next time you're feeling a "I'm stuck" coming on, take a breath and figure out what you really are stuck about.

1:56:13 PM    comment []