Stuckness.
Not only stuck in one thing, like being stuck on one question in an exam paper with the clear option to stay stuck on that one conundrum or to move on to another and return when the brain has had a bit of a break, but here I’m thinking of a broader sense of stuckness.
The stuckness where the options aren’t that clear, or available, of not knowing where to turn… 
The stuckness of finding a general sense of being trapped – not feeling well, going to get help, being given pills and still not feeling well.
Maybe you also watched last year’s programmes (Dr Chris van Tulleken in ‘The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs’) about the effectiveness of antidepressants and coming away with concerns about the state of the medical profession and whether they are being inadvertently guided more by big pharma and their profit margins than their hypocritic oath these days….
Trying to find other means of feeling better, trying to make life feel better…
Being mindful of our environment, perhaps choosing to make our space, our home, feel nicer – using delightful aromas and liking these, only to find later that there’s some claim that in using aroma candles or incense burners this is somehow polluting the air, releasing benzenes or whatever chemical is said to be ‘bad’ for us, so our efforts are deemed wrong, or even harmful.
Or perhaps seeking the gentle companionship of crystals…. But later finding writings about the unsafe and unethical manner in which these are being procured in some places, so your rock companions now feel somehow dirty….
Finding someone to talk to, but in that conversation finding that there isn’t going to be a meeting of the minds or souls as the time is filled with advice given to you; offers of what you ‘should’ or ‘ought’ to be doing…. Go find a friend, go stay with an aunt for a few days, go change this or that…. Maybe all the things you’ve either tried or been trying to do but for a variety of reasons these don’t suit or fit just now….
The stuckness of not being heard.
Or maybe you’ve even been to visit with someone who offered you hope, and in your meeting you discovered at some point that there was something else entirely going on….
Trying to fit in with the demands of employment and jobs…. Working hard, working long hours, yet still the bills pile in, through the post, online, in emails, phone calls…..and there’s not enough money coming in to cover those bills, so you work a bit harder, a bit longer, take a part time job on top of the main one…. And still there’s not enough. Stuck in the rat race, and no way out.
Stuck in anxiety, sleeplessness, pointless daily grind…
Needing help, but not being able to find the time to get meaningful help….something will give, as maybe you already sense, and maybe you’re thinking that before You give entirely and crash into that point where your mind and body will stop you suddenly in burnout or heart attack, you’re looking for some support.
Not advice.
Not directions about what to change or do differently.
Support for you.
If you’re at any stage of feeling stuck – stuck in life, in job, in feeling not-OK, stuck in darkness, just stuck – and if you take that courageous step of making contact, then you will be welcome here.
Time For you is available here, to be still, to consider what this stuckness might be, what it might mean for you.
No quick fixes, no promises of miracle cures.
No pills or fad diets that promise much and deliver little.
Stuck can be a good place to start.
Rosalyn Young is a qualified mental health nurse with 30 years
Experience in govt and private agencies helping those in crisis
and in recovery. She has studied counselling to degree level,
and specialises in working with survivors of childhood abuse
and neglect, PTSD, DID, and emotional regulation problems.
She lives in Lincolnshire with her husband and a variety of
companion animals, is a brewer of mead, and student of
growing things in the garden.
