When You're Stuck, Make Something

"I feel stuck."

People arrive at our office saying the same thing. They are still showing up to work, paying bills, and meeting responsibilities. On the surface, things look fine. Underneath, momentum has stalled. The same thoughts circle endlessly. They come home tired and go to bed wondering if anything will change.

What surprises them most: they are doing everything right.

They have followed advice, made plans, and tried to think their way through. None of it creates movement. Somewhere along the way, they stopped trusting their own judgment about what to do next.

When thinking harder doesn't work

When people feel stuck, they turn to overthinking. What went wrong? What needs fixing? What strategy might solve this?

Sometimes this helps. Usually, it just maps the cage more clearly.

The problem is not always a lack of insight. It is how tightly everything is being held.

When everything turns into an obligation

Days get described the same way: packed schedules, back-to-back responsibilities, no space between one thing and the next. When I ask if there is any breathing room, people look confused. Breathing room feels unrealistic.

Here is the pattern. The more tightly packed the days are, the more stuck people feel. More effort should create momentum. Instead, it creates static. The mind stays busy. The body stays tense. Everything takes work.

Goals that once felt motivating start to feel like judgments. Timelines turn into quiet accusations. Even good days carry the feeling of being behind.

Trying harder rarely helps. It usually makes things worse.

Why does making things interrupt stuckness

Recently, a woman came in feeling stuck about whether to leave her job. Identifying details have been changed to protect her privacy. By the time she arrived, she had already done everything people usually do when making a careful decision. She had made lists. She had talked it through with friends. She had researched other options, updated her resume, and thought through possible outcomes again and again.

Six months of effort had led nowhere. What she felt instead was tired. She described being worn down by the constant thinking. Every option sounded reasonable, yet none of them felt workable. Each attempt to decide pulled her back into the same internal debate, replaying reasons and doubts without resolution.

Rather than continuing to talk, we spent twenty minutes drawing.

There was no plan for what the drawing should be. I gave her markers and a blank page. She began drawing circles, layering them one on top of the other. Some were light. Others were pressed in firmly. As the page filled, her grip tightened. Her body leaned forward. Her breathing became shallow without her noticing.

Halfway through, she stopped. She set the marker down and leaned back.

Her shoulders lowered. Her face relaxed. The strain she brought into the room eased without effort or instruction.

After that shift, we turned toward reflection. Not to analyze the decision itself and not to push her toward an outcome. The goal was to move away from problem-solving and into a more honest conversation than the one she had been stuck in for months.

As she spoke, her focus changed. She began talking about her work in specific terms. She named projects she had handled well. She described moments when others had relied on her judgment. She identified skills she had stopped acknowledging because they were no longer recognized at her workplace.

She also spoke about what mattered to her. The standards she held. The way she wanted to contribute. Over time, those values had been sidelined in an environment that took her effort for granted. The doubt she carried was not about her ability. It came from working in a place that benefited from her competence while offering little respect or appreciation in return.

There was no anger in this recognition. There was relief. She could see that she had been questioning herself in response to an environment that gave her no reason to feel secure or valued. The longer she stayed, the more she confused that lack of acknowledgment with a personal failure.

Through reflection, she reconnected with why she was good at what she did. She remembered her purpose and her experience without needing to prove it. She also recognized that wanting to work in a place where her contributions were respected was neither unreasonable nor demanding. It was appropriate.

Nothing was decided that day. What changed was how she understood the problem. The question was no longer whether she was capable of making a decision. It was whether she wanted to continue offering her skills in a setting that did not value them.

Sometimes the most important work is not choosing right away. It is recognizing when the problem is not you, but the context you are trying to survive in.

What happens next

This probably sounds too simple. It is simple. That's not the same as easy.

When you make something without an agenda, the looping thoughts begin to settle. Attention shifts from what feels wrong to what is actually in front of you.

This does not solve the problem outright. It changes your relationship to it. The decision that felt impossible becomes clearer. The next step shows itself.

Movement returns not because you forced it, but because you stopped blocking it.

About Healing Arts Center

At Healing Arts Center, we work with people who feel stuck, burned out, or disconnected from themselves. Our work blends somatic coaching, trauma-informed mindfulness, creative practices, and nervous system support, offered in both one-on-one sessions and small-group settings. Sliding-scale options are available for veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and family members.

Learn more at https://www.healingartsvb.com or schedule directly at https://www.vagaro.com/healingartscenter. You can also email Mark at info@healingartsvb.com for more information.