Driving in the snow can also be a metaphor for life - to avoid getting stuck you need to maintain momentum, take the turns slowly and slow down with an appropriate amount of distance. When driving in the snow you need to remember all of these tips or you’re likely to get stuck.

When you are studying for a test or cleaning your house or building a tree house you work hard and keep going until you are done. After you’ve worked hard enough you start to take breaks which slowly get longer until finally you just can’t work anymore. You lost your momentum - now you’re stuck. If you change your job, change your home and change a relationship all at once you might feel like you’re in a spin with too much happening and not know what to do next. You took the turns too fast and you slid out of control - now you’re stuck. When work gets stressful and you’re having financial difficulty and your mother is sick the overload of stress can lead to you getting overwhelmed and shutting down. You didn’t slow down soon enough - now you’re stuck.

These are normal parts of human experience and everyone has likely experienced something like this at some point. As you meander your way through life your ability to manage might ebb and flow at different times. When you are properly rested you can usually get back up and move forward, but sometimes you just never get to that point where you can progress further. When this happens the stuck part just becomes more entrenched. It’s kind of like when your car gets stuck in a pile of snow - if you hit the gas too hard you’ll just spin your wheels and dig it in even deeper.

Being stuck can feel like a huge weight. You might notice a sense of hopelessness or despair and even believe there is “nothing you can do” about changing what is happening. You might even believe there is some reason why this is how it has to be. These feelings can make that stuck place even harder to get out of. It’s like piling even more snow on top of the already buried car!

In order to get unstuck you have to begin with small steps - start by getting back to the truth of where you are in the moment. Take a few moments to make a list by asking yourself these questions: Who am I? What do I want more of in life? What isn’t working in my life? What’s missing? What would I like to put in place of the parts that aren’t working? What difference would it make having these missing pieces back in my life?

By creating this list you will start to give yourself traction about where to go and how to get there - a critical part of getting unstuck whether it is in life or in the snow. But now that you have some ideas and some possible direction, what happens next?

Take a look at your list and notice if there is something that you believe to be true that is preventing you from moving forward and having more of what you want. Sometimes a belief system forms around something that happened in your past or from the weight of stress that got you there in the first place. This belief system can convince you to stop actions that would give you more of what you want. Perhaps you believe you’re not worth it, maybe it’s that you don’t believe you have enough energy or maybe it’s as simple as “I can’t.”

Once you identify that belief system that’s holding you back ask yourself “What would I rather have - more of what’s missing or more of what I have now?” In order to get traction you must begin by taking small steps first. If you were in the snow you might start forward slowly until the wheels start to spin and then back off and get a run with more momentum. In life you can do this by testing out a few changes in your life. Begin by looking at the list you made earlier. What are some of the simplest things about who you are or what is missing in your life that you can make adjustments to? Keep it small - maybe it’s call 1 friend a week, exercise twice a week, clean your room, or maybe it’s just going easy on yourself for not taking action sooner. The important part in gaining traction is to pick something that is small, simple and completely doable no matter how stuck you are now.

By doing just this one simple thing you begin to unravel the idea that you are completely stuck or unable to take positive action. You now have the beginnings of momentum. Momentum still requires direction though. Navigating the snow is just like navigating life. You need to take some time to continue to identify the bumps and turns that lay in front of you. It also helps to have an idea of where you are going by understanding your purpose and values in life. As you put it all together you begin to have a roadmap that will guide you through the difficult parts and bring you into the sunshine of your life.

Once you’re there, well, it’s much easier to drive on clear, dry pavement with a roadmap in your lap! Now all you have to do is keep the momentum, take the turns carefully and remember to slow down once in a while to avoid getting stuck again. It also helps to carry traction devices for those times you might get stuck again!

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