Self-Coaching When You’re Stuck on the Springboard
The other day, a friend and I were chatting, and she said something that really struck me, especially as we kick off this new year.
She said sometimes she feels like she is on a springboard, but she’s stuck. She can feel momentum and then something happens. She said, “It’s like my foot is caught, and I want to keep moving, but I can’t--and I don’t want to cut my foot off either to get free.”
That image landed hard for me. Probably because I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit.
Sometimes I knew my foot was stuck, and other times I didn’t realize it until the circulation had already been cut off. In those times, my energy would become uneven. Some days I was able to push through and other days everything felt heavy. Sometimes I would stop imagining what could be and only focus on getting through that day (or maybe even that hour) because every small decision would start to feel exhausting.
When this happens to me, I become way more irritable than I want to be, especially with people who don’t deserve it. Also, I find that the work that once felt purposeful starts to feel demanding. What looked like momentum starts to feel like strain and drain.
What my friend’s comment made me wonder is this: How many of us are still stuck on the springboard, telling ourselves to wait just a little longer, while trying to decide whether the problem is lack of patience or an actual warning sign?
“How many of us are still stuck on the springboard, telling ourselves to wait just a little longer, while trying to decide whether the problem is lack of patience or an actual warning sign? ”
For me, the hardest part hasn’t been the snag. It has been knowing what kind of decision I am actually facing. So when I’m trying to self-coach through these moments, these are the questions I come back to:
Is this discomfort temporary resistance, or is it slowly costing me my health, values, or clarity?
Am I staying because I still believe in where this is going, or because I don’t want to admit how stuck I am?
If nothing changed for another year, would I be disappointed or relieved?
What part of me is doing the talking right now, the strategic leader or the exhausted one?
If a friend described this situation to me, what would I tell them?
If you’re on the springboard right now, foot caught, trying to breathe and think at the same time, you’re not broken.
You’re paying attention.
And that might be the beginning of getting free.
