Feeling Stuck in Life? Here’s How to Spot Tiny Sparks Again

If you’re feeling stuck in life, I absolutely get it. Maybe it feels like you’re walking through fog, or like you’ve hit pause on a movie that never unpauses. You might even wonder if you’ve lost yourself completely. I know that feeling well - after years of living in survival mode, I thought “stuck” was my permanent setting. Pretty sure I became the unofficial poster child for stuck.

But here’s what I learned: you don’t need a massive life reset to move forward. You don’t have to fix everything overnight. As a matter of fact (and my stubborn self trying over and over)- those big, bold, “fix everything NOW” moves leave you more stuck and defeated than before. What you need are tiny sparks - small shifts that remind you you’re still here, still alive, and still capable of change.

This isn’t a list of 20 productivity hacks or “10 habits of successful people.” (I see you Pinterest!) This is a gentler guide, written for the tired, the overwhelmed, and the ones who feel like they’ve tried everything and nothing worked.

I Promise That You’re Not Broken - You’re Just Being Protected

When life feels heavy, it’s easy to believe something is wrong with you. But “stuck” is often just your nervous system in survival mode, trying to protect you. (Good job, nervous system!) Burnout, overwhelm, and numbness can look like failure, but really, they’re signals: you need something different.

Think of it as a soul drought. The ground isn’t dead; it’s waiting for water, for light, for something new to fall into the cracks. Your spark hasn’t gone out - it’s just hibernating.

Tiny Sparks That Start Movement

Here are some small, pressure-free ways to shift the stuckness:

• Micro-movements: Rearrange one shelf. Step outside and notice three things in the sky. Light a candle. Scribble on a page without worrying what it looks like.

• Micro-rebellions: Wear glitter socks with your pajamas. Eat dessert before dinner. Play a song from your teenage years at full volume.

• Micro-pauses: Stare at the ceiling for five minutes. Take a nap without guilt. Imagine your thoughts floating past like clouds.

None of these will “fix” your life. But each one creates a flicker - a spark that breaks the pattern, even for a moment. And those moments matter.

Psst! If you are rolling your eyes and saying how dumb those suggestions are, you are kind of right. They are ridiculously simple and lack sophistication or guru-speak. And that alone breaks down the barrier of resistance, fear, and discomfort to stepping even a tiny bit out of your known stuck space. So roll your eyes if you must, and then rearrange a shelf.

Shift Your Perspective: You Don’t Need a Reset

The world tells us to do life over, to reinvent ourselves, to set big goals. Sometimes that only adds more pressure. What if instead of a reset, you gave yourself a redirection?

Follow what feels light. Mix and match. Allow yourself to be curious without expecting results. Write yourself a permission slip: “I don’t have to do this perfectly. I just have to notice the sparks when they show up.”

Anchor the Sparks

When you start noticing tiny shifts, capture them. Write down one “spark” moment each day: something that made you laugh, a thought that felt lighter, or a moment of relief. These can be so tiny that you miss them if you blink. Being tiny, it’s also easy to talk yourself out of them. “Oh, that was nothing. Meh. Who cares?” That’s why you need to write them down before your inner wet blanket tries to put them out. Because tiny sparks are what lead you back to YOU.

This isn’t about tracking progress — it’s about proving to yourself that sparks still exist. You can use a simple notebook, your phone, my Spark Tracker or a guided tool like the Spark Wheel or one of the Following Sparks journals.

And so…

Feeling stuck in life doesn’t mean you’re broken or unfixable. It means you’re human. It means you’ve been through some shit and your mind needed to protect you. You don’t need to bulldoze your way into a “new you.” You just need to notice the tiny sparks that help you remember who you are.

✨ If you’d like more gentle ways to begin, grab the Spark Starter Kit - a free set of easy peasy, doable micro actions to help you create space for sparks in your everyday life.

And if you’re ready to dive deeper, explore the Permission to Pause Journal or the Let It Go Journal - created for moments exactly like this.

Because sometimes the smallest spark can light the way forward.