Hello friends!

When you reflect on a period in life when you felt stuck, can you remember what kept you stuck? Maybe it's that the circumstances felt too unfavourable, or maybe there was a deep fear holding you back.

Well, regardless of the driver keeping you stuck, one thing had to be true:

That's what this week's exploration is about.

This week's theme:

The physics formula to get unstuck in life.

This is a concept borrowed from physics which I believe is very applicable in our own lives too:

• An object gets stuck when it fails to achieve motion
• The opposing force to the motion is friction
• The friction can be overcome with enough energy

Roughly speaking, there's an equation here to be modelled:

And so the implications of this are:

1. You get stuck in life when you don't have enough energy to overcome the friction that's holding you back
2. To get unstuck you have to either (A) increase the energy you have for the situation, or (B) decrease the amount of friction you're experiencing

So now reflect back again on the period you felt stuck and the drivers that were keeping you stuck. How could it map onto this equation?

Example 1: Feeling unfulfilled in your career

• Possible energy drains → Lack of work life balance, having too many responsibilities outside of work
• Possible friction points → Being surrounded by people you don't feel aligned with, the fears involved with breaking free from your career identity

Example 2: A relationship feels stuck

• Possible energy drains → Attending events with this person which you don't care about, constantly being asked by this person to help out in their life
• Possible friction points → The fear of hurting the other person in being honest, conflicting schedules which make it harder to have these conversations

Can you now see how this formula can be useful?

While it cannot give you the magical solution to solve your problem, it provides a birds-eye view mapping of the situation to give you different angles where you can make progress.

And every step you take counts when it comes to get unstuck. Because ultimately, each step is motion, and that's the antithesis to the state of being stuck.

If you'd like to explore this more...

I've published a video on my YouTube channel which dives deeper into how we can reduce friction and increase energy in our lives. It expands to the sub-levels beneath what I've shared in this email.

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But otherwise, that's it for this week's issue of Emotional Explorations. I hope it provided you with some useful insights. Till next week!

Best,
Eric