Feeling stuck in life? Instructions from a psychiatrist on how to live the life you love

Life the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

If we are feeling stuck in life, or even uninspired, we have the opportunity to be creative and infuse passion back into our journey. You can create your future one step at a time to live the life you love. Stop and take the time to reassess your dreams and life goals, make a plan to live life to its fullest, be intentional with your goals, and pick your priorities wisely.



Downloadable 10-Step Guide

I created a 10-step guide to help you take charge of your life and create the future you deserve. Use this guide to:

 

  • Help identify areas that you would like to change and steps to take to get there.
  • Write out your goals and be intentional with the process you want to take.
  • Identify your hurdles and find a way over them.

 

Download this FREE guide by entering your information here:

GOAL SETTING Life the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

Take a moment to remember back to your original life goals and dreams. Are your goals the same as they were in the past? Are you getting closer to reaching your dreams?

 

What do you envision for yourself and your life and where do you want to invest your energy? It’s never too late to begin to make changes. Small steps add up quickly so what can you do today to move forward? The important part is to just get started. Don’t worry about perfection or lose sight of your dreams in the process.

Create your reality

What areas of life do you want to emphasize? What we repeatedly think and do drives our reality. Are you focused on the parts you want to increase or focused on feeling stuck in life? Life is always a balancing act so choose thoughts wisely and reset yourself when you need to.



Life goals and actions steps

Make a list of 3 life goals and under each one write out 5 action steps that will get you closer to what you dream. When you have completed your 5 action steps make a list of 5 more so you can continue to inch forward closer to meeting your goal.

MOTIVATION and INSPIRATION

Life the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

 

 

  • How do you feel inspired
  • What do you love?
  • What brings you joy?
  • How do you have fun?

 

Start working with what you have and where you are at right now. Focusing on the present moment can help balance out worry thoughts and keep you from living in the past or future. Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath and push forward.



 

If you are feeling low on motivation and inspiration you can jump start yourself by doing an act of kindness. Also, enlist the help of others to stay accountable to your goals. Better yet, help them stay accountable to their goals too. You can give each other a needed boost when motivation wanes.

SELF-LOVE and SELF-CARELife the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

How will you take charge?

We get to start over every day, every moment. Practice taking a deep breath, letting it go, and moving forward to create your future. You are in charge of your happiness. Don’t wait for it to come to you but instead be the driver of your life. We can’t always control the cards life gives us but we can still manage them and thrive. How will you take charge?

Where do you fall on your to-do list?

What habits do you have that hold you back? Is there something you can work to let go of? Life balance is a challenge so take a moment to look at where you are on your to-do list. Do you always come last? Are exercise and self-care scheduled? Is sleep prioritized? Those of us that are givers need to remember we have to refill our cup in order to keep giving. We HAVE to take care of ourselves or we will burn out. What do you do to refill your cup?



Let your true self shine

Stand up for what you believe and your values. Be true to yourself. We all have powerful voices and things that need to be said. Give yourself a right to exist and be heard. This is part of self-love and awareness.

Perfect is often not perfect

And remember, perfection is often an unattainable illusion that impedes forward movement and keeps us feeling stuck in life. Let it go and keep taking steps forward! The drive for perfection remains an impediment to satisfaction and progress.

KINDNESS, CELEBRATION, and SUPPORT FOR EACH OTHERLife the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

Celebrate each other

Let’s celebrate each other without using other’s accomplishments as a source of our insecurities. We can acknowledge our success together and be proud of each other while also being proud of ourselves. Life is full of challenges so let’s be each other’s champion. We are stronger together!

Take a positive lead

Positivity breeds positivity and we can be that agent of change. It’s so easy to be kind and it can make a difference in everything we do and in the world around us. Let’s lead each other to a better, happier place.



Connect

Reach out. Make a connection. We need each other and good friends brighten life. Find your tribe and have more fun. It’s one of the greatest mental health tips there is. Ask yourself if the people surrounding you motivate you or bring you down? How can you work to strengthen your connections?

Making a difference

Think about what you can do to make a difference? A smile? A kind act? Send a postcard, buy someone a coffee, donate money, give a compliment. Little by little, we can increase kindness and connection in our world. This benefits others and will also make you a happier person. Make a difference in your life, your community, the world. What are 5 things you can do? It can be as simple or complicated as you would like- but make it doable!

Be kind

It is worth saying again, choose kindness…but also practice saying NO so you have time for self-care. We have to be kind to ourselves too.

HEALING and the FUTURELife the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

The past can’t be changed. It may need to be processed and dealt with but it doesn’t need to determine your entire today and future.



Can you identify a triumph that has come out of something negative in your life? We are the sum of all of our experiences but none of them define us. We can grow stronger as we move thru and heal from what has been difficult. Work on letting go of anger to find more freedom.

Courage. Bravery. Hope.

 

There are so many possibilities in life. Don’t let fear stop you from seeking your dream. Worry thoughts can take over and derail us if we let them. Don’t believe them! Unknowns can create anxiety but they are also exciting and bring new potential and new opportunities. Life is an adventure! Work on bringing yourself back to today and letting go of projections. It is hard to stay in the moment but we miss so much when we live in the future.

My hope for youLife the life you love and create your future one step at a time. A psychiatrists guide to help you stop feeling stuck in life and acheive your life goals.

My hope for you in this next year is to continue to take charge of your life, create your future the way you dream, and increase your happiness. Even if circumstances are tough around us we always have choices. Start to identify what you want and make changes to live the life you love. Allow yourself to dream. Be inspired and inspire others. Create. Love. And have fun.

 

I wish you all a happy and healthy new year.

 

If you are looking for more encouragement on your journey ahead read these posts:

 

Want to Motivate Behavior Change in Others? Apply Motivational Interviewing Techniques to General Life

A Preschool Book Reveals the Secret to a Happy Life for Us All…Yup, It’s That Good

“Embrace the Suck” How the Power of Positive Thinking Can Turn Your Day Around

What is Self-Respect?

11 Effective Interventions for Depression

 

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9 thoughts on “Feeling stuck in life? Instructions from a psychiatrist on how to live the life you love”

  1. Hello Melissa,
    Great article, I really enjoyed the ‘my hope for you’ part at the end; a great why to end your article.
    “Start working with what you have and where you are at right now.” — occasionally I forget this part. argh. lol. Well done Melissa, it’s a great time for change. imo.

  2. Thank you Kevin! We all need to be reminded about lots of these points- it is too easy to get caught up in the day to day and lose sight of the overall picture and goals. Even tho I am not a big fan of staying up to midnight lol, this is one thing I appreciate about NYE is the opportunity for people to stop and reevaluate.

  3. Dear Dr. Welby, thank you for your very practical post for starting 2019. The reminder about the vain search for perfection and the the perfect moment is most useful; as well as to take time for self care and to start any project with a few humble steps. Happy new year to you and family.

  4. Thank you for your comments. So glad you found helpful reminders! Happy new year to you also

  5. Hi Melissa, I loved the article! I don’t know if you already know about this, but I recently found an app called Calm Harm. It’s an app that helps people fight the urge to self harm. The same developers also recently came out with an app called Clear Fear. This one helps those with anxiety and stress disorders. I downloaded the apps and they’re pretty great! I hope you will check them out and see if you think they are effective enough for people who struggle with self harm and anxiety.

  6. Thank you Dr Melissa for the reminders to find ways to be the best version of ourselves and to have self care and time for improvement and working towards our goals and best versions of ourselves.
    ? Happy New Year to you as well. I really love your powerful messages. What you say always seems like you are talking straight to me. I am so inspired by you. Thank you again.

  7. Thank you so much for this comment. We can all benefit from reminders of how to strive for more for ourselves and challenges ourselves (and each other) to achieve our goals. All the best!

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