The Courageous Leader

2The Courage to Get Unstuck

In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood where the true way was wholly lost.¹

—Dante

You know that feeling when everything is going exactly as you want it? You awake excited and passionate about your day. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. On your way to work you hit all the green lights while your favorite song plays on the radio. At lunch, your boss’s boss asks you to join her at your favorite restaurant because she wants to get to know you better and understand your career goals. Your afternoon is full of productive conversations with exactly whom you want to talk to at exactly the right time. Your day flows like that all the way back home, where you have a package from a loved one waiting at your doorstep and your spouse greeting you with an open bottle of your favorite wine. You sink into your bed staring into the night sky, grateful for the tranquility you feel before you close your eyes. There is nothing more you could ask for. Life is seamless. Life is good.

Now that you have that feeling of being in the flow of life, imagine the exact opposite. Imagine you are moving as fast as you can with all your energy and might in a large pool of quicksand, and you’re going nowhere. You are stuck. Living out the same old pattern over and over with little to no success, feeling incremental to no movement forward, just waiting for the next thing to reveal itself. Lethargic, exhausted, and lonely.

I know the feeling of “stuckness” ...