“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
— The Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70
We have many names for being stuck: burnout, depression, feeling lost.
They are different things, but they may describe a common experience: something in life has stopped moving.
Being stuck is not about what your life looks like from the outside. You may be successful and feel stuck. You may fail at many things and feel at peace.
Being stuck shows up in different ways.
Mentally, it may feel like anxiety, emptiness, or a vague sense that something is wrong. Physically, it may come with trouble sleeping, changes in appetite, or unexplained pain.
Having any of these symptoms does not mean you are stuck. A sore throat can come with a cold, but having a sore throat does not necessarily mean you have a cold. In the same way, anxiety, depression, insomnia, or physical pain can have many different causes. This note is not a diagnosis or medical advice. It is just something I have observed.
Being stuck is related to life energy. Energy here is not meant in a medical or supernatural sense. It means the different forces in us that want expression: the need to create, connect, or become who we are. When these forces have nowhere to go, something feels wrong.
Take creativity as an example. Perhaps deep down, you have a desire to make things, take risks, and seek adventure. If that creative force finds a way into the world, you may write, paint, or build something. If it doesn’t, it may turn inward, expressing itself through overthinking or daydreaming. Sometimes, this may even show up as anxiety or depression.
Elizabeth Gilbert, best known for Eat, Pray, Love, once described the creative mind this way: “Possessing a creative mind, after all, is something like having a border collie for a pet: It needs to work, or else it will cause you an outrageous amount of trouble.”
Life energy does not disappear; it can only take different forms, constructive or destructive. The question is not how to eliminate the force, but how to express it in a constructive way.
Aggression is another force we easily misunderstand. Expressed constructively, it may become a desire to win a game or the ability to defend your boundaries in relationships. Turned inward, the same force may become self-criticism: attacking yourself for everything you do.
One difference between constructive and destructive expression is whether the force can enter reality—whether it can move outward and become action. And there is a simple test: does its expression make your life better? Do you sleep better, eat better, work better?
Sometimes we are stuck because the forces within us do not align with society’s values. A longing for truth and a quiet life may be one such force. It may seem like a weakness in ordinary life but become a gift on a spiritual path.
The question is not How do I adapt to this world? It is What if I belong to another world?
Another source of confusion comes from the stories society tells us: work hard and you will succeed; find what you love and you will be happy. But the life that fits us does not necessarily make us happy or successful.
Consider someone who wants to become a parent. Raising a child can be exhausting, but it may bring a deep sense of peace. Or someone may leave a stable corporate career to become an artist, choosing uncertainty over comfort.
There is a word for this: dharma—living a life aligned with one’s nature. Living your dharma does not mean life becomes easy. It can be challenging, painful, or full of struggle. And yet, somehow, you no longer feel that you are suffering. You feel at peace.
This is counterintuitive. You may even discover something stranger: when you follow your calling, you can be alone without feeling lonely. You feel connected to something larger than yourself.
Getting unstuck can be difficult because the life that fits us may require a kind of ego death. Becoming an astrologer after years as an investment banker is more than a career switch. It means letting go of who you thought you were.
Some people are fortunate: what calls them is comfortable and socially rewarded. For others, it means letting go of their education, their faith, or even people they love. This is hard because it goes against a human instinct: we prefer the familiar and fear the unknown.
When you are exhausted, you sleep. When you are hungry, you look for food. Some needs cannot be ignored forever. Becoming who we are is one of them.
What we suppress does not disappear. It waits, changes form, and finds other ways to speak.
This is what being stuck is trying to tell us: something within us wants to become real, but has not yet found a way into the world.