June 5, 2024 • 10 mins
Do you ever feel like your daily routine is sucking the life out of you? In this episode of the Self-Care Society podcast, we'll explore Psychology Today's list of ten signs indicating you're in a rut, like lacking creative inspiration and feeling like your days are a monotonous blur. Isabelle provides candid insights and actionable advice to help you recognize these signs in your own life and take proactive steps towards reigniting your motivation and zest for life.
Tune in to uncover the skill of recognizing complacency and the courage it takes to make meaningful changes. Isabelle emphasizes the importance of joy and fulfillment and guides you on how to cultivate these amidst the predictability of your current habits. Whether you're battling burnout, boredom, or just the general "blah" of daily existence, this episode is packed with strategies to help you rediscover your passion and purpose. Don't miss out on transforming your day-to-day life into a journey filled with excitement and growth!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Self-Care Society podcast with
your hosts Celia Williamson,ashley Kuchar, louie Guardiola
and Keri Shaw, a podcast devotedto those whose job it is to
help others get or remainmentally, physically and
emotionally healthy, but whoalso need to take care of
themselves.
And how we're going to do this?
(00:22):
By first showing you thefiltered, pretty version of
success, and then the realstruggles, real work and raw
grit it took to get there, howthey took care of themselves and
also achieved their goals whiledoing it Together.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We will work with you to improve and maintain your
internal health and growth whilehelping you achieve your
external goals and your nextprofessional achievement in life
, and we're excited to show youhow to follow your own
individual and unique path andachieve the dreams you have,
while taking good care ofyourself.
So let's get started.
Hello and welcome to theself-care podcast.
(01:03):
My name is Isabel Matosian andI will be your host today.
There have been times wheremyself or someone I cared about
has felt trapped in theircurrent circumstance.
Every day passes by and it'sfine, there's nothing wrong with
it but they aren't really goinganywhere.
So let's talk about the skillthat it takes to recognize
(01:23):
you're stuck in a rut and to getyourself out of it.
When I say stuck in a rut, I'mtalking about the combination of
burnout, boredom and generalblah that you feel trapped in
with no escape.
When people say they're in arut, usually they mean that they
don't know how to find themotivation to change their
current circumstances.
(01:44):
Let's be honest, we've all beenthere.
We feel like we've grown toocomfortable in certain habits or
lifestyles and nothing isgetting better.
There's no growth.
It's that constantly apatheticfeeling.
Unfortunately, things won't getbetter.
That is, until we make thechanges happen.
(02:06):
This is the part that's thetrue bummer?
Wouldn't we all rather justhope that the solution will
magically appear?
For some people it does.
Some people get lucky and a newadventure or opportunity will
find them, but that's not howdaily life works for most of us.
So how do you take a look atyour life and decide that you're
(02:27):
in a rut?
Do you notice that you don'thave a lot of energy or
excitement in your day?
You're comfortable, but there'snothing that you generally look
forward to because of the joyor the fulfillment that it would
bring you.
And you deserve joy andfulfillment.
We all do that it would bringyou.
(02:47):
And you deserve joy andfulfillment.
We all do.
This is when we take aninternal look and ask if we're
growing too complacent.
Yes, you have certainty inevery moment of your life, but
is that really enough?
Is it because you love thethings that you do or because
you're afraid that otherwise youmight fail?
Psychology Today lists 10 signsthat you're stuck in a rut.
(03:08):
So before we move on, let'sbriefly read through those
together.
Number one and we've talkedabout this it is that day to day
, you don't look forward to muchOther than maybe sleeping or
just getting through whateveryou're doing.
Number two you'd like to getyour creative juices flowing,
(03:29):
but it seems like someone leftan empty juice bottle in the
fridge.
You're lacking that inspiration.
Number three even though youkeep checking things off your
to-do list, it doesn't feel likeyou're getting anything done.
For me, this is like you'regetting anything done.
For me, this is like you'rerunning through water, moving so
slowly but working so hard toaccomplish who knows what.
(03:54):
Number four your days all blurtogether and it's not weird to
look up, blinking and ask isthis Tuesday or Thursday?
I personally hate this feeling.
It's like being trapped in atime loop.
Number five by the time you getfree time, you're too tired to
do something interesting with it, or just plain unmotivated.
(04:15):
I feel like we talk all thetime about carving out some free
time, but what do we actuallydo when it's in front of us?
If you answered for number six,how are you genuinely?
You'd say something like meh,I'm doing meh.
(04:37):
Number seven you fantasize aboutgetting away, and not just away
on vacations.
Oh, that's a good one.
Number eight you'd like to addsomething new to your life, but
you're sure that you'll neverhave enough time or energy for
it.
We'll talk about this a bitmore in a second, because we are
(04:57):
not limiting our potential thisyear.
Number nine you're getting sickof hearing yourself complain
about feeling stressed, tiredand unfulfilled about feeling
stressed, tired and unfulfilled.
And number 10, which they callthe number one symptom of being
in a rut, even though you thinkyou'd be happier if you made a
(05:17):
change.
It's more comforting to staythe same and mope about it All
right now.
Psychology today is just beinga little mean with that one Okay
, just kidding, they make avalid point.
With that one Okay, justkidding, they make a valid point
.
Another thing that you mightnotice is that you aren't
getting ahead in life in termsof your finances or your career.
(05:38):
You're doing just enough to getby, but not to set you up for
future security or fulfillment.
That's not to say that life isall about career and money, but
you also don't want to losesight of your financial goals.
Having financial security setsyou up not only to just decrease
stress about money and thatkind of anxiety, but it also
(05:59):
opens up doors for doing thingslike taking time off, seeking
new adventures or developing newskills.
If you're stuck in a rut, you'reprobably in some amount of
denial about it.
This is because your life mightnot necessarily be bad at all,
but you aren't living to yourtrue potential.
It's easy when you've worked sohard in the past to get a
(06:22):
little too comfortable whenthings finally aren't a huge
struggle.
Trust me, I know I've worked mybutt off for years and then
found myself working a job thatpays my bills and allows me to
stay fed and sheltered anddecently comfortable, and
sometimes that is enough, atleast for a while.
It's wonderful to come out of aparticularly busy or difficult
(06:45):
time and grow comfortable whenthings slow down, but you have
to be careful that you aren'tgrowing too complacent.
Give yourself some time torecover, but don't lose sight of
the goals that you set when youwere running your life at full
speed.
Once you get past the denial,you can start to identify why
(07:06):
you're in a rut, what's holdingyou back from your true
potential.
This is identifying what it isthat you believe about yourself
that's limiting you.
Something like I can't get intonursing school.
If that was your goal, but ifyou didn't try, how could you
possibly know?
Or I can't run a mile,something that simple.
(07:27):
But did you really try?
Did you look into how to trainto run a mile for your specific
conditions.
There are enough people in theworld who will try to limit you.
Don't do it to yourself.
So when we start to realizewhat's happening and why, we can
start taking measures that willgive us some more energy.
(07:48):
This is where practicing themore surface-level self-care
comes in.
This is the exercising more,eating, healthy drinking water,
doing things you enjoy stage.
Build healthy habits to helpimprove your resilience so you
can find that drive that you'velost.
So now let's use that newlydiscovered energy.
(08:11):
One part of your brain that'sinvolved in decision-making,
called the dorsolateralprefrontal cortex excuse my
French is responsible forapplying past experiences to
current decisions.
Your brain solves problemsusing neural pathways that have
previously worked.
Creating new pathways can helpyour brain learn how to get out
(08:34):
of the rut.
So to do this, you want to takeon a challenge.
Don't give up until you'velearned a new skill or done
something completely out of yourcomfort zone.
Keep taking on new challengeswithout fear.
What's the worst that canhappen?
Shoot for the moon right.
Even if you miss, you'll landamong the stars.
(08:55):
Don't ever fall for the illusionthat you are exactly who you're
supposed to be in life.
We're not supposed to beanything or anyone.
We're supposed to fight and tryas hard as we can to learn more
and find more joy.
We never need to settle and,like anything, this is different
for everyone.
Your goal doesn't have to be tobecome a CEO or a famous
(09:19):
actress or a doctor or any ofthose jobs that seem really big.
You can be perfectly happy withwhere you are if you choose to
be really big.
You can be perfectly happy withwhere you are if you choose to
be.
But if you aren't and you'restuck in old habits, then break
yourself out of them.
You are resilient.
You have all the tools that youneed.
Some of them just may need tobe sharpened a little bit.
(09:40):
I hope today's episode heldsomething valuable for you.
If not, listen to a previousone.
There's got to be somethinggood in there.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I hope you all have a fantastic day.
That concludes this week'sepisode.
And remember, it's not selfish,it's self-care.
Welcome to the Self-Care Society podcast with
your hosts Celia Williamson,ashley Kuchar, louie Guardiola
and Keri Shaw, a podcast devotedto those whose job it is to
help others get or remainmentally, physically and
emotionally healthy, but whoalso need to take care of
themselves.
And how we're going to do this?
(00:22):
By first showing you thefiltered, pretty version of
success, and then the realstruggles, real work and raw
grit it took to get there, howthey took care of themselves and
also achieved their goals whiledoing it Together.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We will work with you to improve and maintain your
internal health and growth whilehelping you achieve your
external goals and your nextprofessional achievement in life
, and we're excited to show youhow to follow your own
individual and unique path andachieve the dreams you have,
while taking good care ofyourself.
So let's get started.
Hello and welcome to theself-care podcast.
(01:03):
My name is Isabel Matosian andI will be your host today.
There have been times wheremyself or someone I cared about
has felt trapped in theircurrent circumstance.
Every day passes by and it'sfine, there's nothing wrong with
it but they aren't really goinganywhere.
So let's talk about the skillthat it takes to recognize
(01:23):
you're stuck in a rut and to getyourself out of it.
When I say stuck in a rut, I'mtalking about the combination of
burnout, boredom and generalblah that you feel trapped in
with no escape.
When people say they're in arut, usually they mean that they
don't know how to find themotivation to change their
current circumstances.
(01:44):
Let's be honest, we've all beenthere.
We feel like we've grown toocomfortable in certain habits or
lifestyles and nothing isgetting better.
There's no growth.
It's that constantly apatheticfeeling.
Unfortunately, things won't getbetter.
That is, until we make thechanges happen.
(02:06):
This is the part that's thetrue bummer?
Wouldn't we all rather justhope that the solution will
magically appear?
For some people it does.
Some people get lucky and a newadventure or opportunity will
find them, but that's not howdaily life works for most of us.
So how do you take a look atyour life and decide that you're
(02:27):
in a rut?
Do you notice that you don'thave a lot of energy or
excitement in your day?
You're comfortable, but there'snothing that you generally look
forward to because of the joyor the fulfillment that it would
bring you.
And you deserve joy andfulfillment.
We all do that it would bringyou.
(02:47):
And you deserve joy andfulfillment.
We all do.
This is when we take aninternal look and ask if we're
growing too complacent.
Yes, you have certainty inevery moment of your life, but
is that really enough?
Is it because you love thethings that you do or because
you're afraid that otherwise youmight fail?
Psychology Today lists 10 signsthat you're stuck in a rut.
(03:08):
So before we move on, let'sbriefly read through those
together.
Number one and we've talkedabout this it is that day to day
, you don't look forward to muchOther than maybe sleeping or
just getting through whateveryou're doing.
Number two you'd like to getyour creative juices flowing,
(03:29):
but it seems like someone leftan empty juice bottle in the
fridge.
You're lacking that inspiration.
Number three even though youkeep checking things off your
to-do list, it doesn't feel likeyou're getting anything done.
For me, this is like you'regetting anything done.
For me, this is like you'rerunning through water, moving so
slowly but working so hard toaccomplish who knows what.
(03:54):
Number four your days all blurtogether and it's not weird to
look up, blinking and ask isthis Tuesday or Thursday?
I personally hate this feeling.
It's like being trapped in atime loop.
Number five by the time you getfree time, you're too tired to
do something interesting with it, or just plain unmotivated.
(04:15):
I feel like we talk all thetime about carving out some free
time, but what do we actuallydo when it's in front of us?
If you answered for number six,how are you genuinely?
You'd say something like meh,I'm doing meh.
(04:37):
Number seven you fantasize aboutgetting away, and not just away
on vacations.
Oh, that's a good one.
Number eight you'd like to addsomething new to your life, but
you're sure that you'll neverhave enough time or energy for
it.
We'll talk about this a bitmore in a second, because we are
(04:57):
not limiting our potential thisyear.
Number nine you're getting sickof hearing yourself complain
about feeling stressed, tiredand unfulfilled about feeling
stressed, tired and unfulfilled.
And number 10, which they callthe number one symptom of being
in a rut, even though you thinkyou'd be happier if you made a
(05:17):
change.
It's more comforting to staythe same and mope about it All
right now.
Psychology today is just beinga little mean with that one Okay
, just kidding, they make avalid point.
With that one Okay, justkidding, they make a valid point
.
Another thing that you mightnotice is that you aren't
getting ahead in life in termsof your finances or your career.
(05:38):
You're doing just enough to getby, but not to set you up for
future security or fulfillment.
That's not to say that life isall about career and money, but
you also don't want to losesight of your financial goals.
Having financial security setsyou up not only to just decrease
stress about money and thatkind of anxiety, but it also
(05:59):
opens up doors for doing thingslike taking time off, seeking
new adventures or developing newskills.
If you're stuck in a rut, you'reprobably in some amount of
denial about it.
This is because your life mightnot necessarily be bad at all,
but you aren't living to yourtrue potential.
It's easy when you've worked sohard in the past to get a
(06:22):
little too comfortable whenthings finally aren't a huge
struggle.
Trust me, I know I've worked mybutt off for years and then
found myself working a job thatpays my bills and allows me to
stay fed and sheltered anddecently comfortable, and
sometimes that is enough, atleast for a while.
It's wonderful to come out of aparticularly busy or difficult
(06:45):
time and grow comfortable whenthings slow down, but you have
to be careful that you aren'tgrowing too complacent.
Give yourself some time torecover, but don't lose sight of
the goals that you set when youwere running your life at full
speed.
Once you get past the denial,you can start to identify why
(07:06):
you're in a rut, what's holdingyou back from your true
potential.
This is identifying what it isthat you believe about yourself
that's limiting you.
Something like I can't get intonursing school.
If that was your goal, but ifyou didn't try, how could you
possibly know?
Or I can't run a mile,something that simple.
(07:27):
But did you really try?
Did you look into how to trainto run a mile for your specific
conditions.
There are enough people in theworld who will try to limit you.
Don't do it to yourself.
So when we start to realizewhat's happening and why, we can
start taking measures that willgive us some more energy.
(07:48):
This is where practicing themore surface-level self-care
comes in.
This is the exercising more,eating, healthy drinking water,
doing things you enjoy stage.
Build healthy habits to helpimprove your resilience so you
can find that drive that you'velost.
So now let's use that newlydiscovered energy.
(08:11):
One part of your brain that'sinvolved in decision-making,
called the dorsolateralprefrontal cortex excuse my
French is responsible forapplying past experiences to
current decisions.
Your brain solves problemsusing neural pathways that have
previously worked.
Creating new pathways can helpyour brain learn how to get out
(08:34):
of the rut.
So to do this, you want to takeon a challenge.
Don't give up until you'velearned a new skill or done
something completely out of yourcomfort zone.
Keep taking on new challengeswithout fear.
What's the worst that canhappen?
Shoot for the moon right.
Even if you miss, you'll landamong the stars.
(08:55):
Don't ever fall for the illusionthat you are exactly who you're
supposed to be in life.
We're not supposed to beanything or anyone.
We're supposed to fight and tryas hard as we can to learn more
and find more joy.
We never need to settle and,like anything, this is different
for everyone.
Your goal doesn't have to be tobecome a CEO or a famous
(09:19):
actress or a doctor or any ofthose jobs that seem really big.
You can be perfectly happy withwhere you are if you choose to
be really big.
You can be perfectly happy withwhere you are if you choose to
be.
But if you aren't and you'restuck in old habits, then break
yourself out of them.
You are resilient.
You have all the tools that youneed.
Some of them just may need tobe sharpened a little bit.
(09:40):
I hope today's episode heldsomething valuable for you.
If not, listen to a previousone.
There's got to be somethinggood in there.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I hope you all have a fantastic day.
That concludes this week'sepisode.
And remember, it's not selfish,it's self-care.
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