Why do we feel stuck in life? And how do we get out of it?
The Art of Getting Unstuck: How Art Therapy Can Helps You Reconnect With Yourself.
Feeling stuck in life can be incredibly frustrating. You might feel like you’ve hit a wall and are caught in a loop, just repeating the same thought patterns, routines, and emotional responses with no clear way forward.
This kind of stuckness often manifests as procrastinating on decisions, feeling emotionally flat, or constantly questioning yourself. For some, it feels trapped in one's mind. For others, it’s like watching life pass by while standing still.
The truth is, feeling stuck is part of being human. You’re not alone in this. And most importantly, being stuck is not a personal failure. More often, it’s a signal that your inner world needs attention. It’s your nervous system, narrative, or past experiences trying to protect you in the only way they know how. It can feel like a very heated mental tug-of-war inside.
In this post, we’ll explore why we feel stuck in life and how to begin shifting, even gently. Of course, as an art therapist, I’ll share how art therapy offers a compassionate, creative path forward when words alone aren’t enough.
Why We Get Stuck
You might feel emotionally, mentally, or physically stuck for many reasons. Most of the time, it’s not just one factor but a mix of inner patterns, fears, and unmet needs that make it hard to move forward.
Here are some common reasons people get stuck:
You’ve stopped—or never learned—how to truly listen to yourself.
With all the noises (expectations, external drive) around us, it might be hard to know what you actually want or need. If you're used to people-pleasing or letting others take the lead, it can feel unfamiliar—even unsafe—to make choices for yourself. Or maybe you're constantly reacting to what's happening around you without pausing to check in with how you actually feel. When you are disconnected from your inner voice, it’s easy to feel lost or directionless.
You’re ready for change but afraid of the unknown.
Deep down, you know you’re ready for something new—a shift, a challenge, to be a fuller version of yourself. Whatever you are doing right now does not give you the challenge you need to feel stimulated. But you don’t know what that means. The idea of change is scary because you are unsure if you have what it takes to take on that new challenge. Does this mean you must let go of what is working right now? Does it mean you have to take on a lot more? So many unknowns. So you stayed in the familiar, even if it feels uncomfortable, because that can feel safer than leaping into uncertainty.
It’s hard to let go of your old self.
Sometimes, the parts of you that helped you survive—like people-pleasing, perfectionism, or staying small—are the parts that keep you stuck. These are often old defence mechanisms shaped by childhood experiences, trauma, or cultural expectations. Letting go of them can feel like letting go of your identity, even if they’re no longer serving you.
Your inner critic is in overdrive.
Our inner critic is always the loudest when we sense a change is coming. That uncertainty can put our inner critic into turbo mode. It questions your every move, second-guesses your ideas, and keeps you in a cycle of overthinking. This self-doubt can make any decision feel like a risk—and that fear of “getting it wrong” and feeling not good enough keeps you frozen.
You’re chasing goals that don’t feel like yours.
You might feel like you’ve been doing all the “right” things—checking off boxes, following the path you were told would lead to success or happiness—but it still doesn’t feel quite right. When your goals are based on external expectations rather than your own values, motivation can dry up quickly. Stuckness often sets in when your actions aren’t aligned with what actually lights you up inside.
These inner patterns can manifest as overthinking, procrastination, or staying in situations that no longer serve you—like the same job, relationship, or living environment. You keep going through the motions, but something feels inherently disconnected.
🧠 The Role of the Nervous System
I hope the previous section gives you some contextual idea of why you may be feeling stuck. Now, I want to invite you to consider the stuck feeling through the nervous system's lens. I find this simplifies things a bit, and to see that we are all human operating under this very instinctual system.
When we talk about feeling stuck, we’re often describing more than just an emotional or mental experience—it’s also a physiological one. Our nervous system plays a massive role in responding to stress, uncertainty, and overwhelm. When your system perceives a threat—real or imagined—it activates a survival response to protect you. This can show up as shutting down, freezing, or feeling immobilized. Other times, it looks like overworking, panicking, or needing to act fast.
Feeling stuck in life doesn’t always mean nothing is happening—it might mean your body is doing exactly what it thinks it needs to do to keep you safe.
❄️ When Stuckness Feels Like Numbness: The Freeze Response
Sometimes, stuckness shows up as hypoarousal, also known as the freeze or collapse state. The nervous system shuts things down in this mode to protect you from perceived overwhelm. You might feel brain-foggy, unmotivated, emotionally flat, or just going through the motions. It can feel disconnected from yourself or the world around you.
This isn’t a sign that you’re lazy or doing something wrong—it’s your body saying, “This is too much right now.” In these moments, what helps isn’t pushing harder, but creating gentleness, safety, and support to help your system return to baseline.
⚡ When Stuckness Feels Like Overdrive: The Fight-or-Flight Response
Other times, stuckness comes from hyperarousal—a state where the nervous system is activated into fight-or-flight. This might look like constant overthinking, restlessness, anxiety, irritability, or feeling like you have to do something but don’t know what. You might be bouncing between ideas, unable to decide, or trying to outrun the discomfort you’re feeling inside.
In this state, your body is trying to move you out of the stuckness, but without direction or regulation, it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels. What helps here is slowing down enough to ground yourself—using breath, movement, or mindful routines that help your system feel safe again.
The Upside Of Stuck
I know feeling stuck sucks, but there is an upside to this!
First of all, it is actually a powerful nudge from our mind and body to pause, reflect, and realign. Stuckness often shows up when we can feel deep within us that something needs to shift. Your authentic self is saying, “Wait—something doesn’t feel right. Can we slow down and figure this out?”
This is a great time to ask yourself:
What is it that I really want?
What’s no longer working?
Where have I been ignoring my own needs or desires?
These questions can be hard to tune into. So, remind yourself to give yourself space and grace to be candid. It's time to let yourself be seen. And some patience. You might not know the answer straight away, so let yourself marinate on it for a bit.
Secondly, being stuck can also mean that you’ve outgrown an old version of yourself, the defence mechanism, your current narrative of the self is not working anymore—but you’re unsure on how to let yourself be who you want to be. That in-between space can feel confusing and uncomfortable, but it’s often where deep transformation can begin. Like a seed underground, things are moving—even if you can’t see them yet.
While no one enjoys feeling stuck, it can be a turning point. If you listen closely, stuckness can point you back to your values, your voice, and your next step—one that feels more true to who you are.
What Actually Helps Us Move Again
So, what helps us move when we’re feeling stuck? It’s usually not about pushing harder or “fixing” ourselves. Instead, it’s often a mix of gentle mindset shifts and simple, grounded actions that reconnect us with ourselves and the present moment.
Here are a few things that can genuinely support movement—mentally, emotionally, and physically:
❤️Start with Acceptance and Curiosity
One of the most powerful things you can do when you feel stuck is to accept and stop judging yourself for it. The energy around you softens when you shift from resistance to curiosity.
Instead of asking, “How do I fix this?” try asking, “What’s the stuckness trying to tell me?”
Stuckness isn’t just a barrier but an invitation from within us that something new is trying to emerge, but it needs some space and care before it can fully unfold.
🌱 Rebuild Your Foundation
When you’re stuck, it’s easy to forget the basics. You might stop nourishing your body, lose sleep, or isolate. So, we need to slow down and recommit to caring for ourselves.
Check in with your physical and psychological self-care. Are you sleeping enough? Eating nourishing foods? Moving your body? Getting support? Try to find some fun and playfulness in taking care of yourself.
Consider this as building a safe and encouraging foundation for your next steps.
🆕 Try Something New (Even Something Small)
Trying something new—even if it is unrelated to your current situation—can help spark momentum. This could mean taking a different route home, learning a new skill, or exploring a new creative outlet. Small shifts can signal your nervous system that it’s safe to move again. And try to focus on the fact that you’re doing something new/different, not how well you’re doing it.
🌟Reconnect with Your Values
Often, when we feel stuck, it’s because we’ve been living in ways that aren’t fully aligned with our own values. Maybe we’ve been operating on autopilot, trying to meet external expectations—whether from family, work, or culture—and somewhere along the way, we stopped asking ourselves what we actually care about.
Getting unstuck often starts with coming back to yourself and thinking about what values guide you in life. When you begin to re-align your actions with your values—even in small ways—you create a natural sense of energy and direction. It’s not about doing more; it’s about doing what matters to you.
🔄 Unlearn Old Expectations
Sometimes, what keeps us stuck isn’t the situation—it’s our expectations about how we should be by now, or where we thought we’d be. Part of moving again is loosening the grip of old narratives.
Ask: Whose timeline am I following? Whose expectations are these?
Unlearning can be just as important as learning. Let go of who you were told to be—and create space for who you’re becoming.
How Art Therapy Can Help You Get Unstuck
It’s hard to see what’s happening inside us. We can feel that stuckness, but it’s hard to access it. And not knowing can make it feel worse. It’s like trying to untangle a yarnball, but we can’t even see or touch it . That’s where art therapy comes in. It gives you another way to access what’s stuck— it can provide some clarity and relief in just being able to feel more in control of that stuckness by drawing it out.
Art therapy helps you get out of that overwhelmingness of thinking and back into your body—into colors, textures, shapes, and images. It gives space for the parts of you that don’t have words yet. And when those parts finally get seen and heard, things can begin to move.
Here’s how art therapy can support your process:
It externalizes what’s inside.
Putting something on paper or shaping it with your hands makes it visible and accessible. It gives you another perspective to look at it, reflect on it, and relate to it differently. This creates space between you and the feeling—it usually relieves some pressure, allows you to see it clearly, and brings some objectivity to the matter.
It brings the inner critic into the light, so you can work with it.
When we feel stuck, our inner critic really gets in the way. The creative process can be a gentle way to work through it. Our opening is the to-be-expected voice of, “This isn’t good enough,” or “You’re not creative. "
Drawing it out allows the power dynamic between you and your inner critic to shift. We can use that lens to gently explore your inner critic’s beliefs and begin to loosen their grip. This process can help you name its patterns, understand its roots, and relate to it in a new way.
It helps you access the subconscious.
Often, what’s keeping you stuck lives below the surface, and art is a wonderful way to access it. Simple lines and colours usually lead you to what needs attention within you. Art can reveal insights that aren’t accessible through talking alone.
It reconnects you with your body.
Making art with your hands, working with materials, and slowing down can calm the nervous system and bring you into a more embodied state. From there, clarity and movement become more possible.
It invites play and experimentation.
Everything can feel heavy and too significant when you’re stuck or just being an adult. We forget to play and be curious to unstuck ourselves. Art therapy offers a space to try things out—to follow curiosity instead of fear. Simple exercises like scribbling or collage can bring lightness, surprise, and new perspectives.
The main thing to remember is that you don’t have to be an artist to benefit from art therapy. I’ve had many meaningful insights with just a simple blob.
Two Things You Can Try Right Now
I know I’ve said a lot in this blog post. But remember, you don’t need to overhaul your life or have everything figured out to begin shifting out of stuckness. Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is take one small, intentional step. Here are two small ways to start:
1. Come Back to the Basics of Self-Care
Start by asking yourself: What does care look like for me today?
Maybe it’s a glass of water, a 10-minute walk, cooking something nourishing, or journaling. Focus on creating safety and steadiness inside your body—not fixing anything, just being kind to yourself in the moment.
Remember to set realistic goals, something you know you can comfortably do. We’re looking at the sweet spot between feeling like you can do more when you’re done and not feeling like you’ve done so much that you don’t want to do that again for the next few days.
2. Try a Simple Creative Exercise: “Play with Shapes”
Instead of trying to draw your feelings directly, start by picking a shape or colour that feels right to you in this moment. You might draw a circle, a spiral, or a series of loose lines—there’s no right or wrong.
Let your hand move across the page without overthinking it. Try filling the page with different shapes, playing with how they connect or change. Notice how it feels to create without a goal.
This kind of low-pressure creative play can help quiet the overthinking part of the brain and bring you back to the present. Sometimes, that’s all we need—a few minutes to get out of our heads and back into our bodies.
So…
Feeling stuck isn’t a sign that you’re broken—it’s often a sign that something deeper is ready to shift. And even if it doesn’t feel like it yet, movement is possible. With a little curiosity, compassion, and care, you can begin to reconnect with yourself and create space for something new to emerge.
If you’re curious about how art therapy can support you in this process or work with me through talk therapy, I’d love to help. You can book a consultation with me and we can see if we’re a good fit.
You don’t have to move fast. You have to start by meeting yourself where you are. ❤
