Stuck Quotes

“Whenever something bad happens, keep calm, take a few deep breaths and shift the focus to something positive.”
― Roy T. Bennett

“Fear is the glue that keeps you stuck. Faith is the solvent that sets you free.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“We are set in our ways, bound by our perspectives and stuck in our thinking.”
― Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

“when you have something to do life will not allow you to move foward until you do it.”
― Iyanla Vanzant, Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You're Going Through

“If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you already know, you're dying. You're saying: Leave me alone; I don't mind this little rathole. It's warm and dry. Really, it's fine.

When nothing new can get in, that's death. When oxygen can't find a way in, you die. But new is scary, and new can be disappointing, and confusing - we had this all figured out, and now we don't.

New is life.”
― Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

“But there was a difference between being stuck and choosing to stay. Between being found and finding yourself.”
― Martina Boone, Compulsion

“The people I'm stuck with in my life now aren't sucking the life out of me, they just suck.”
― Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca

“You are stuck with me till the world falls to pieces, and if we’re not still standing even then we’ll still find a way to be together…”
― Ottilie Weber, End of the Line

“The chains that break you, are the chains that make you. And the chains that make you, are the chains you break.”
― Anthony Liccione

“I'm stuck. I'm stuck in yesterday, and you're tomorrow.”
― Rebecca Donovan, Out of Breath

“What if you were always stuck in one place, your mind spinning and unable to go forward like tires clenched in mud, because the answers wouldn't reveal themselves to you?”
― Will Lavender, Obedience

“What if I'm stuck. Here. Forever.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help

“He wondered if this, more than guilt, was what had been holding him back. It wasn't that he was punishing himself as much as it was that he didn't really want anything anymore. But was that true? Did he really not want anything? What did he want to do? What did he want, period?”
― Heidi Cullinan, Dance With Me

“Nothing that is good can become stuck – and if it is stuck, it can’t be any good!”
― Silvia Hartmann

“We are stuck-up about love and we are stuck-up in the idea of being in-love.”
― Ann Marie Aguilar

“the only drinking problem I've ever had, is figuring out why I'm still stuck in this salad spinner”
― Josh Stern, And That’s Why I’m Single

“Making excuses only leads to continued stagnation.”
― Robin S. Baker

“There is silence, only the pitter-patter of rain hitting the skylight above my bed. Do I roll over and fall back asleep or get up? This is always the dilemma. Long ago I lived for such rainy days, when I would make myself a cup of cocoa, climb back into bed, snuggle under the comforter, and just listem to the storm outside. Perhaps I would benefit from doing the same today. Recently, when I sought council from a minister friends, she affirmed my conclusion that I was stuck. "You're in the dessert," she said, "and you're parched, but not dried out." As she talked, I pictured myself sitting on a stump in the middle of a vast wasteland, surrounded by nothing save miles of adobe-colored, hardened soil, with no escape route insight. "You've got not alternative but to simply sit still and listen. In time you'll hear the answers.”
― Joan Anderson, A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

“Feeling Stuck?
You haven’t asked the right question yet !”
― Jaya Bhateja

“When the world is moving from "Some right answers to No right answer or every answer is right", why are you stuck in some of the right answers!”
― Jaya Bhateja

“So, one good indicator of healthiness is movement. Whereas if you're stuck, that stuckness is a good sign to go get help." As with your car stuck at the side of the road, Donnovan says, you don't want to just sit there.”
― Julie Lythcott-Haims, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult

“The path, as the mystic poet Rumi writes, won’t appear until you start walking. William Herschel started walking, grinding mirrors, and reading astronomy-for-dummies books even though he had no idea he would discover Uranus. Andrew Wiles started walking when he picked up a book on Fermat’s last theorem as a teenager, not knowing where his curiosity might lead. Steve Squyres started walking in search of his blank canvas, even though he had no idea it would one day lead him to Mars. The secret is to start walking before you see a clear path. Start walking, even though there will be stuck wheels, broken drills, and exploding oxygen tanks ahead. Start walking because you can learn to walk backward if your wheel gets stuck or you can use duct tape to block catastrophe. Start walking, and as you become accustomed to walking, watch your fear of dark places disappear. Start walking because, as Newton’s first law goes, objects in motion tend to stay in motion—once you get going, you will keep going. Start walking because your small steps will eventually become giant leaps. Start walking, and if it helps, bring a bag of peanuts with you for good luck. Start walking, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard. Start walking because it’s the only way forward.”
― Ozan Varol, Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

“[If you think you're lost in life] even though your mind didn't know it, your soul has never been lost. It knows exactly where it's going, and if your ego will step out of the way and allow you to be guided, you will move directly towards you purpose in life.”
― Sonia Choquette, The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook for Reawakening the Voice of Your Soul

“I admire your balls, Feyre- I really do. Or maybe it's stupidity. But since Tam won't gut you, which was my first choice, you're stuck here.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“Next time you’re stuck in the self-editing-doom-loop before you even reach a significant milestone, just remember that it takes the unorganized parts to get to the organized part.”
― Richie Norton

“Making excuses for yourself only leads to continued stagnation.”
― Robin S. Baker

“Stuck on "on": how to manage a Sympathetic response
1. Say to yourself, "I am having trauma response. This is a physiological process. I'm not crazy."
2. Make a list of people, places, and things that you love. Notice how your body feels as you think about hugging your best friend, sitting on a beach, or curling up with your favorite book.
3. Use your senses. Weighted blankets. Essential oils. Soft music. Warm tea. These can all help your nervous system come back down.
4. Count backward from the number 31.
5. Notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, and 1 thing you can taste.
6. Push as hard as you can against a door or a wall. Notice your muscles firing. Step back, take a break. Repeat three times.
7. Do simple math problems in your head. Simple thinking tasks will help your brain reorientate itself.
8. Name the sensations inside your body. Say to yourself out loud, "I feel tension in my neck. I feel tightness in my stomach. I feel he
at in my face." Then look for one place in your body where you feel neutral or calm. Most people can access neutral by noticing random areas like their left knee cap or right ring finger. Focus your attention first on the neutral area, then on the tense area, then on the neutral area. Do this for four minutes.
9. Don't ask why you feel panic. Do ask who or what will help you feel safe.
10. If you have a dog or a cat, gently put your hand on their heart and count their heartbeat for three minutes.

Stuck on "off": how to manage a high tone dorsal vagal state.
1. Remind yourself that you are not lazy or unmotivated. Tell yourself, "I am having a trauma response. This is a thing. I am not crazy."
2. Get cold. Splash ice-cold water on your face. Hold ice cubes in your hand. Put an ice pack on your neck. Or jump into the coldest possible shower you can stand.
3. Hum or sing. There's a reason people have changed "Ommm" since the 6th century.
4. Social connection is powerful
medicine. Connect with a human over the phone: good. Over video chat: better: In person: best.
5. Don't ask why you're feeling frozen. Do ask who or what might help you feel safer.
6. Don't use hyperbolic exaggerated language like "I feel buried" or "I'm drowning." This language reinforces the stress response. Instead, get really specific." I need to call my son's teacher, pick up my prescription and finish a proposal for work." Write down the specific tasks. This will help your brain click back into solution mode.
7. Suck on a lemon. This sounds weird, but it can help suck your brain out of shutdown mode.
8. Open and close your mouth. Then move your head. Then stretch your arms and legs.
9. Grab both ends of a blanket and wring it out as you would if it was soaking wet. Notice your muscles firing as you do this. Take a break. Repeat three times.
10. If you have a safe and willing friend or partner, make eye contact with them for 2-3 minutes. It's super awkward, but you will get a bonus dose of energy if you both end up laughing.”
― Britt Frank, The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward

“Allow yourself to change and grow into who you always wanted to be. There will be some who won't be able to see past the old you and attempt to keep you stuck in the good old days. Unstick yourself now and keep pushing forward instead.”
― Christine E. Szymanski

“The Earth’s inhabitants have been stuck in the grips of the lower dimensions for thousands of years. We were unable to embrace change having little awareness of our true spiritual nature.”
― Jennifer Lynch

“When you finally choose to be your number one, those who only stuck around because you were their faithful number one will sooner or later unstick themselves from you.”
― Christine E. Szymanski