How to stop feeling trapped, anywhere

Happy July!

Back when I first experienced burnout, one of the biggest feelings was that of being trapped.

I felt like there were zero options.

I couldn’t leave the field. I wasn’t even sure I could leave my job. 

I didn’t see any other ways out.

Ever felt this way?

So many of us have, it’s such a common thing in our field, especially with our high rate of burnout.

And when we feel like that, we ask ourselves questions.

“Why did this happen?”

“Why do I feel this way?”
“Why is it so hard?”

“How did this happen?”

“What can I do to change it?”

But the problem is… all of those questions have one thing in common.

They’re focusing on the wish that things were different.

But they aren’t. 

They are what they are, history has already occurred and can’t be changed.

So we feel trapped when we focus solely on wishing they were different (often we don’t realize that’s what we’re doing but it is…).

HOWEVER… 

There’s another way, a better question that we can ask that can completely change how things appear, change how we feel about the situation.

The question is “Now what?”

“Okay, this is how things are, now what?”

Because that is a forward-looking question. 

A question that accepts that things are what they are, that the past can’t be changed, so now what do we do moving forward?

It’s not a resignation question by any means. But it’s a question that accepts what IS, while asking about what CAN BE.

It’s a question of possibility.

“Now what?”

When we aren’t trying to solve a problem that can’t be solved (changing the past), we open our minds up to solve problems and look for solutions (new paths) that we CAN take.

And that moves us out of being trapped into forward motion, where we can become more intentional about choosing our direction.

That is taking control of our situation. And it’s powerful.

Will you try it this week and let me know how it works for you?