Coping with Stagnation

Lately, I’ve felt like life just doesn’t want to go my way. It’s frustrating, to say the very least. I feel like I’m not moving forward, I feel like no one will give me a chance and as a result, I feel like nothing I do will work out and more often than not, I don’t even attempt to tackle it. It’s really weird for everyone else to think you have all this potential, my photography teacher thinks I’m one of the best in our class, people keep telling me to pursue an acting career, yet I can’t even pull myself out of a depression long enough to finish a task. And no, I’m not talking about a task related to work, if I’m getting paid, that task will be done with time to spare hunty. I mean personal things. I know I’m doing things to enrich myself in the way I want to be enriched, but am I doing enough?

AM I?!

I talked to my therapist about it, it turns out, I’m not neurotic (that’s my mother’s diagnosis). The therapist just says that I’m ready to move on to something else, and she’s right. But how can you move on to something else when the universe isn’t ready to give it to you? Her answer was, sadly, “muddle through it”.

Girl…what?

I don’t want to muddle through a damn thing. I want what I want and I want it right damn now. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet mastered the talent of making the world give me my way.

So what choice do I have but to do what the woman tells me? And look, I’m trying my very best to be patient with the cards I get dealt but DAMN…I’m getting awfully fed up with some of the foolery going on at the moment.

Antyways, I’m finding ways to help keep myself occupied so I don’t lose my ever-loving mind. Ways that won’t cost me an arm and a leg.. because who has the money for all that?

I guess the culmination of this long-winded frustration is that dealing with being stuck in one spot is never easy. It can drive you up the wall, it can make you hate your life. It can make you severely unhappy and maybe even depressed. In the end the only thing you really can do is muddle through it.

Ugh, look at me regurgitating the same crappy advice my therapist gave me.

Here are a few things you can do to help yourself cope.

· Take a small step toward your goal. If you want to be a photographer, watch some YouTube videos. Hell, go to pinterest and learn some stuff, they have anything you could ever imagine available on pinterest.

· Do what you can do, when you can do it. I am definitely not advising you to get months’ worth of work done in just a couple of weeks, but when you find the time (and trust me, I know it’s sometimes hard to find the time) find the inspiration and energy to get something done that will propel you a little closer to where you want to be.

· Embrace the moment. And I get that sometimes “the moment” is like the gross guy in the club who keeps trying to dance with you and you want nothing to do with it. But every little moment is allegedly supposed to teach you something, so maybe we should start embracing, even the shitty ones. After all, they are just a stepping stone to where we truly want to be.

Look, use that frustration to fuel you toward your #GOALZ. Let that job you hate be a little more than just a means of paying the bills, set some coin aside for those new business cards, make that business Instagram, start that blog/podcast/vlog. But until you can get those things off the ground, remember

· Have a little time for yourself to keep you sane:

- Go to a concert (wasn’t I just bitching about not spending money and here I am suggesting a concert) There’s nothing more freeing than being in the middle of a bunch of strangers, dancing like a fool because you’ll never see any of these people again. It’s a beautiful moment to sing your favorite lyrics back to an artist you love while in the midst of hundreds of other people who love this artist as well.

- Get a little wine drunk and paint a picture. Please tell me that you’ve been to painting with a twist? And listen I’m in no way suggesting to drink your problems away, this is just a way to have fun and help you decompress a little to clear your head and help you focus on your goals.

- Take a mental health/self-care day. A LOT of people push their mental health to the bottom of their priority list but I’m going to tell you right now, STOP THAT. A healthy mind is just as important as your physical health. So please take the time for yourself when necessary even if you can’t afford a big fancy spa day. Slap some cucumber slices on those eyelids and spend your day in bed watching true crime documentaries.

I hope we can all keep the courage and determination to push through even in the face of uncertainty and frustration. And definitely remember to clear your head before you get overwhelmed with feeling stuck where you are.

Peace out, girl scout.