andy Kovach [00:00:02]:
Getting unstuck. Whether it's wondering how to take the next step in life, being so overwhelmed that you feel like you can't move forward, or maybe you're just having trouble doing what you know you should do. These are some examples of how we can feel stuck, and a lot of us I have had this happen from time to time in our lives. Sometimes it feels like it goes on and on. So in the next 15 minutes or so, we'd like to give you five ways that we've discovered that just may help you get unstuck. We hope this is a good time investment for you, and we certainly appreciate you joining us here at Imagine Yourself podcast where we help you imagine the next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage, and faith.
Lanée Blaise [00:00:46]:
Thank you for joining us. We are here today to talk about something that really can get people, and it's the concept of feeling stuck in situations where you're wondering if you are able to get to your next personal or life goal, If you're able to get to your next professional goal or nutritional goal or faith or relationship goals, All of these things are so important that Sandy and I thought that we needed to do an episode on making sure that we can get unstuck from these things. And sometimes it even flips. Sometimes you want to stop doing the things that get you stuck, like procrastination. That's a big one. You know? So overall, I'm Lanee here with Sandy, and we wanted to just give some tips, some advice, some really good ones, not Necessarily ones that you might have heard of before either. That's the kind of fun part. And some that are maybe even a little counterintuitive.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:46]:
So I'm just gonna say, Sandy, take it away.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:49]:
Yeah. Getting unstuck, and this is kind of based on our last episode with Jackie who is helping us have the courage to step forward in different areas of our lives. And one of the reasons that she gave that we don't do that is when we feel stuck. So we're kinda taken off on this because there can be different reasons and different ways that people feel stuck, and it can be personal, professional, and all the things like you were saying. So the first thing to do is You have to dig into the reasons behind your, quote, inertia. What is keeping you stuck in this position, feeling like you can't move forward on whatever it is, whether it's a dream that you wanna make come true, like we talked about a lot with Jackie, or whether it's just stuff that that you know you gotta do every day. So, I mean, it could be something within you, like anxiety or feeling overwhelmed. It could be something within you, like you said, procrastination, the allure of immediate gratification.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:53]:
What did that, The procrastination monkey, was that the thing
Lanée Blaise [00:02:56]:
that gets in our had a long time ago, that procrastination monkey on your back. Yes.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:01]:
Yeah. The procrastination monkey, we talked about him in, in another episode. So once you do that, I mean, if it's a procrastination thing, then, you follow along with those sort of pieces of advice like breaking your goals into smaller manageable steps, doing a timeline, giving yourself rewards, taking small actions. If it's something that's more like a confidence problem or feeling overwhelmed, having anxiety, That's something you either, you know, need to dig into with yourself, maybe with a friend, or something that you actually might get professional help for.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:36]:
Yeah. I agree with all of that and I love that component of inertia and then moving and getting forward. So with that in mind, I want to challenge everyone who feels that they are stuck to Do another thing. This is, like I said, kinda counterintuitive, but just do one thing very differently than the way that you're currently doing it. And this is kind of like an exercise to get you, you know, unstuck. You don't have to pull the Band Aid off Immediately, but do one thing very differently. It can be small, but I really ask you to please do Some real discipline, and stick to it, and make sure that you do that one thing differently. And let me give you a few examples.
Lanée Blaise [00:04:23]:
Let's start that with something that we all can maybe identify with nutritional goals. We say that we want to eat better or do our nutritional, our fitness goals better. Pick one thing To do differently and really stick to it, then you can add another one. Because I do have gosh. Sandy, I just talked to a friend, A really good friend of mine, and she has been getting that nudge from inside of herself and from God. She's been told by her doctor, And she knows that the key to getting over her health issue is a change in diet. Mhmm. She's overwhelmed by all the different things that her doctors said she would have to limit.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:04]:
You know? Gluten free, No beans, no dairy, no sugar, all of these things. So maybe if she feels that it's too overwhelming, she can just take One of those items and start. Because once you start, you get that inertia, you get that momentum, and you begin to move differently in your life. So I challenge you to do one thing like that. Another component to add to that is using The little things we learned in elementary school, who, what, where, when, why, how, to make bigger and bigger changes And to really evaluate how to get unstuck from the space or the situation that you're in. The "who" is you.. Now what is very likely an easy one? Awesome. Kinda going easiest to hardest.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:55]:
What is it that you're trying to change? What is it that you feel stuck in? What is it that you're trying to get unstuck from? Focus on that a bit. Where? Where do you need to turn to get advice, to get help? Whether it's online, which can be good or bad, whether it's a friend, which depending on how much they know, be good or bad, Whether it's, you know, professional help, but that where is a good direction. When do you need to do it? Most people would say now, but perhaps you need to Wait a little bit until you're really ready because I don't want anyone to start something that they you know, get themselves overwhelmed and then quit. So let's make sure that you either go slow or go when you're ready to go. And then why? Why do you feel this need to make this change? Why are you feeling stuck? Why are you, you know, battling with yourself on this? And how how to make the changes Will likely come from you really taking that good deep look at it and really evaluating what's going on.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:03]:
So knowing your why, people talk about that all the time. That's huge. But what I kinda wanna bounce off of is when you said the when. And, you know, some people might need to do it now. Your friend has been told by many people she needs to make nutritional changes, and I do like the one at a time approach. But, yeah, she probably needs to get started on that right away. But there's some people that might need to wait because that they have too much anxiety, or they feel like they're falling into quicksand. And, you know, in quicksand, when you move around, you all deeper and deeper into it.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:39]:
And what you need to get unstuck is to just calm yourself down. They say, calmness is a superpower. Yeah. And a lot of times, that isn't it something that we can do in our own strength, and that's where we look up. You need to be willing to surrender to God, and spend some quiet and alone time trying to listen to God's voice, to get into his word, to meditate, to, just calm yourself from within. And more answers may come to you that way other than just, you know, going and running off into some direction where you think you should go or you saw some TikTok video with a with a hack, and now you're gonna try it. I just say that because all of my son's knowledge seems to come from TikTok videos. I'm kidding.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:27]:
He went to school too, but he, he does he does come at me with a lot of hacks from TikTok.
Lanée Blaise [00:08:32]:
My son too, Jay, is always like, yep. I learned that on TikTok. I'm like, oh my goodness. This is wow.
Sandy Kovach [00:08:39]:
So yeah. I mean, whether it's, you know, the Internet or whatever platform that you use and whatever hack that you think you wanna try, if it's cool, it doesn't mean that you can't get good information on TikTok and other places. But, Yeah. I think God is, and getting quiet is a good way
Lanée Blaise [00:08:55]:
Yeah. Jackie Prewitt mentioned that on that last episode also About just getting still, getting quiet, getting alone. Sometimes we feel that we're wasting time by getting still, But I truly believe, and I do have to practice what I preach more often, that quiet time can be some of the most productive time In our entire lives, especially when it's spent digging in deeper with God.
Sandy Kovach [00:09:22]:
Yeah. Absolutely. So what else we got?
Lanée Blaise [00:09:27]:
So our last tip, because we're gonna do just a nice little short episode today. Our last tip is remember that that you are unique as you are trying to get unstuck from whatever situation you've got going on. I mean, there's lots of advice out there from other people, wise people, unwise people. TikTok hacks. TikTok hacks. All that stuff. But remember, not everything is for you. Everything is not for everybody as much as they Make it seem that way.
Lanée Blaise [00:10:00]:
And so at Imagine Yourself, we wanna make sure that we help remember that you keep in mind, You want to do something to make your plan of action unique for you. Make it your own. Think of ways to customize that advice and those tips that you're taking in to make it workable And special for you. Once again, we're gonna reflect back. Determine your why. Why is it that that you are getting stuck. And even why do you want to get unstuck? Because part of the advice too is sometimes you're meant to stop Trying to get unstuck. And that sounds really crazy, but sometimes that's you're supposed to stop because you're maybe in a season Where you are supposed to wait well, you are supposed to, I hate to say it, but be stuck that for just a bit, but really sit and imagine the benefits that will happen to you When you're unstuck, visualize it, see it, be willing to dissect it all.
Lanée Blaise [00:11:07]:
Because, basically, the end of the day, don't just do what seems to work for everyone else. Like, going cold turkey is not necessarily for everyone. And so you might need to customize the way that you move into or out of things as you're getting unstuck in this life. Those are just quick things to help, As Sandy said, calm us down, you know, move us through and not panicking, not not getting stuck in the quicksand and not making it work that ourselves.
Sandy Kovach [00:11:40]:
Yes. So these are just some tips that we have found that worked for us. And like Lanee said, sometimes you just gotta make it your own and think about what's gonna work for you. Think about what's worked for you in the past that has helped motivate you or get you unstuck or any of these things. And and I would also say, share it with a friend. I don't think we brought that up. That's just kind of a bonus tip. Get somebody that you can talk too about this, whether it's in your family or someone in your friend group that you just say, hey.
Sandy Kovach [00:12:10]:
I'm trying to get unstuck with this, and they can casually say, so how you doing with that? That might help push it forward a little bit too. Because sometimes we need that. Sometimes we need a little accountability.
Lanée Blaise [00:12:19]:
Yeah. And a little friendship. Sandy, one day, we might do an episode about just how much this world relies on friendships too because, you know, we all And that's biblical. That's something we learn in little partners that you get in school. Really, that community aspect Of of trying to have someone who can help push you through some of these tough times and help pull you out of being unstuck.
Sandy Kovach [00:12:45]:
Pull you get a rope to you in the quick sand. Exactly. Exactly. On, what's that? In Indiana Jones.
Lanée Blaise [00:12:53]:
Yes. Yes. Exactly. There's always some partner. There's always a pair, somebody to help you as you're getting out of that too. So we're here to help you also to imagine yourself podcast. That's what we do. And we just want to end with this.
Lanée Blaise [00:13:09]:
Imagine yourself using all of these resources, customizing them for your benefit, visualizing yourself in your next step, and truly getting unstuck from the things that no longer serve you.
Sandy Kovach [00:13:27]:
Appreciate you joining us. As always, we would love to hear your feedback. Leave us a review. Give us the rating. That's very much appreciated, and it also helps people discover the podcast. Connect with us on social media. All of the links to our platforms are in the show notes along with our website, imagine yourself podcast.com, where you can find a blog for this episode, and all of the other episodes we do. We'd love for you to check us out.
Sandy Kovach [00:13:54]:
It's got some other contact information too if you prefer email. We have all kinds of ways to connect. So we hope you'll think about doing that, and mostly, we hope you get unstuck!