From our archives. First published July 31st, 2024.
If you’re headed towards a goal and feel the frustration, this one’s for you!
As much as we sing about it, believing in your dreams can be really hard. It’s the most important part of your journey (which makes complaining feel awful), but there are times when you can’t help but feel stuck.
Luckily, stuckness is all part of the grand plan. While it lasts for months and can drive you a little crazy, it’s actually a blessing. You just have to let yourself see it that way!
This Blog is a Perfect Example
Amour Abroad took some time for me to develop. When I made it I thought that getting to my first couple of goals would be easy. It turned out to be the opposite!
Stuck at the Beginning
My plan was pretty simple: create the blog, build an audience, make sales, expand.
Straightforward, nothing crazy. Yet up until a week and a half ago, the building an audience step made me feel like I was climbing a smooth, vertical wall.
I followed what I learned in business school and leaned on social media marketers, but in the end I was gaining and losing the same followers each week.
Madness.
The Key is to Embrace Feeling Stuck!
So I cried and prayed and cried some more, asking God why He wouldn’t offer me some online dignity. Just a little thousand so that I could feel like I was actually making progress.
Here’s what He said: “You have everything you need.”
So I started looking around. And it occurred to me that what I needed wasn’t more followers.
Have you noticed that trees in a forest are of similar heights but have different thickness in their trunks? Thicker trees stand for decades, but the thin trees break in half when storms come.
Businesses are the same. People are the same.
I realized that if I was willing to dig into how I truly felt about my work, the stagnation would make my trunk thicker. You get stronger, you last longer, and you’re able to do more.
In other words, feeling stuck was a blessing in disguise!
Below are the three biggest blessings I took away from that period. See if your stagnancy is providing you the same help!
A Piece from Our Collection
Amour Abroad Spiral Notebook
Capture every moment in the Amour Abroad Spiral Notebook. Buy yours below!
Blessing One: Protection from Crash Outs
The proper term is self-sabotage, but I love the phrase crash out because it truly encapsulates that feeling of going along and suddenly having an accident. When we’re passionate with clearly defined goals, we usually expect to reach them smoothly. Sure, a mishap here or an oversight there may occur, but for the most part we trust that the more we work, the more progress we’ll see.
What happens when that progress doesn’t come?
In the past sadness would wash over me until I gave up. Then a few days would go by and I would get upset about giving up, find new energy, and start again.
That helped me reach short term goals in the past, but for the long term I needed more stable energy.
Feeling stuck gives you time to iron out kinks in your process. Since I had a gracious time period between launching and gaining traction, I was able to develop a fool-proof self care routine that made me happy no matter what! And when I had practices I could lean on in sad moments, working became so much easier.
The stakes are low when you’re stagnant – use that time to create systems that lift you up!
Blessing Two: Honing Your Craft
Everything that is done can be improved!
I felt very proud when I wrote my first handful of posts. Creativity is really amazing for your sense of self.
But I had to come back and edit these posts.
You might feel like your business or art is perfection, and it is, but only for the level you were just at.
Consider this: Jesus was probably ready to teach to the masses when he was in his 20s. But it took gaining the 12 disciples and Mary, turning water to wine at the wedding and living in the wilderness before he could teach thousands. And by then he was 30!
Feeling stuck is where we are refined. Use your time to hone your craft. That way when lots of people start pouring in, you can do what you do with confidence!
Blessing Three: You Get to Dream Bigger
You are going to succeed. Hebrews 10, verse 36 says “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”
Which means that if you do what you need to do (and you are reading this post because you are a person who does what you need to do), you’ll get exactly what you’ve asked for.
So since you know you’ll reach your goals… prepare for more!
When we’re focused on achieving the first of a series of goals we can get trapped in survival mode. How can we pay the rent if the products don’t sell? How can we build our network if the contract falls through?
Feeling stuck is a blessing because it shows you that even when things aren’t great, your needs will still be met!
Right after I started this blog I had a quarter life crisis. Things got crazy and by the time I came up for air, I was living in my car. It felt awful, but in my worst moments I saw that the following things were true:
1. I always had food
2. I always had shelter, a blanket, a pillow, and somewhere to bathe
3. My business was always safe and operational
At the end of each day, my only concern was that I could keep writing. So when I finally got a place, my plans got bigger. No longer was I worried about social media or SEO research – that all started coming naturally. My thoughts changed from upkeep to 15 year plans!
Your stuckness allows you to develop perspective. You never know what will be asked of you when get your success. Master the little stuff now so that when bigger comes knocking, you can receive it!
It Seems Different now, right?
Get curious about your feelings! What are you speaking life into that might require refinement? If you’re not sure, pray for an answer. It will come, and through that action is where you will find your breakthrough.
Conclusion
I hope you feel blessed after reading this post. Don’t try to skip the line or buy your way out of stagnation! As it says in James 1, verse 4:
“Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV)
You’re growing in His perfect timing, and you won’t miss a thing. I promise.
I love you!
Buy the travel journal on our Etsy shop and start seeing the bright side!
Leave a Reply