Feeling Stuck? Reignite Your Passion After a Professional Hiatus

Have you ever felt stuck after a break, knowing that you need to get back to work but unsure of how to start? This week, I’m grappling with the challenge of returning to my meaningful work after a fairly long hiatus, and I am in desperate need of inspiration on how to do this. I imagine this theme resonates with anyone in any field who takes a break from their work and faces this inertia when returning.

Inertia. The word alone carries a certain weight. I made the (possibly) mistake of looking up how inertia is defined:

“Inertia is the resistance to change or movement, often manifesting as a heavy, sluggish feeling that keeps you from starting or resuming tasks. It can feel like an invisible weight holding you back, where the energy and motivation needed to take the first step seem just out of reach, leaving you stuck in a state of inaction.”

Dang, the heightened awareness I feel when I read that is daunting because those words resonate as true and describe what I really feel better than I can articulate myself! But after 38 years of doing my work, I didn’t get to where I am today by allowing these feelings to immobilize me—at least not for too long.

As someone who has practiced yoga and self-care for decades, I turn first to what I have learned and what we teach in Phoenix Rising: lean into the feeling, get comfortable with the uncomfortable, and build resilience with daily practices. After I lean in and let myself fully feel the heavy, sluggish stuckness, I pick myself up and go for a walk, do some yoga, meditate, or pick up an inspirational book of quotes. Until I feel I can start to step into the path up from the down of inertia. I call this getting back to ground zero. Moving from the negative pull to the space of neutral, or zero, so I can start stepping in the direction of the positive and get my stride back.

Once I’ve gotten my ‘self’ ready to start the upward climb, I begin ‘my work.’ I ease in, allowing myself to start slow, and quiet that impatient voice inside that says: “You aren’t getting there fast enough! Better get moving!”

Here are the slow steps I take to reignite my passion and get my stride back:

Reconnecting with My ‘Why’

I learned long ago in leadership training the importance of knowing and staying in touch with my WHY. Funny, but not funny, it’s the first thing I lose sight of when I get into the daily tasks of life and business. It’s important for me to step back and remember my why. I re-read old journals, scan my photos, meditate on who I am and why I am here, and turn to things that inspired me in the past.
Today, I felt drawn to scan through our first Phoenix Rising training manual. The first thing I noticed was our original logo, which I had forgotten about. It reignited memories of our origins. Phoenix Rising was founded by Michael and me, and this logo represented the commitment we made to create a life of personal growth and transformation together. We have been through many fires, burnt down to ash, and through our commitment to personal transformation, risen transformed. I wish this process could be ‘one and done.’ But life doesn’t work that way—darn. But I am grateful I’ve used this life to learn and grow, and I want to continue until my last breath.
My ‘why’ is to continuously grow and transform toward my highest being and, through my work, to awaken and support awareness and transformation in others.

Physical and Digital Space Clearing

Most of us are aware of how powerful the acts of cleaning up our workspace, organizing our digital files, and clearing out clutter can be. There have been many books and teachings on space clearing as a symbolic act of preparing our mind and space for new energy. Even though I know this and can teach it, I have to admit, procrastination often gets the better of me. In my space, each thing has a place, but to avoid clutter, I would have to put each thing in its place. If I did, I wouldn’t end up with a two-inch pile of papers to organize ‘someday.’ And that adds to my inertia. So I start slow, putting things away one at a time, until I can breathe a full, free breath and look with pleasure on my cleared space.

Incorporating Lessons from Other Professions

With my space cleared and my ‘why’ rediscovered, I still found myself needing more motivation. That’s when I looked to school teachers for inspiration—since they experience coming back after summer breaks. My break wasn’t just an extended vacation; it was months of not being in touch with my work. I needed more help. How do teachers who take the summer off get back into their flow? I found that many do exactly what I outlined above: reconnecting with their why and going in early to clean, organize, and decorate their classroom for a fresh start. Then they get to work on their curriculum and many find joy in thinking up and executing creative, demonstrative ways to make students feel welcome and inspired when they walk in on day one.

Balancing the Enjoyable and Tedious Aspects of Work

While I love and find joy in the delivery aspects of our work—being present during our teaching sessions, even planning them, and thoroughly enjoying talking to potential participants—I do resist (or hate) what I find the tedious parts of running a business: charting curriculum with competencies for accreditation, filling out and filing forms, bookkeeping, spreadsheets, social media…I could go on. Yet it’s essential to cover all aspects of business to be successful. I can hire folks to do parts I don’t like to do, yet, as a business owner, I must be involved in making decisions, meetings, or doing things that must be done by me.

I’ve learned long ago that my best time for things I don’t like to do is in the morning. When I was most successful with this—before my hiatus—was when I engaged the system outlined in Robin Sharma’s book The 5 AM Club, that he calls the Tight Bubble of Total Focus: 90 minutes each day of sacred time with the door closed and no phone, text, or email to focus on ONE THING and get it done. Since I’ve been on hiatus, I haven’t done this, but because I’ve done it before, I know it works for me, so the first thing I am doing today is putting those 90 minutes on my schedule four days per week. My best time for this practice is early morning. After my practices, breakfast, and getting ready for the day, I take 8-9:30 a.m. for this bubble, and I feel so accomplished so early in the day, that I feel relaxed and more productive the rest of the day, without the burden of the work I don’t like but is important hanging over me.

Sharing My Intention

Sharing my intention with co-workers and family and writing in a blog, as I am doing now, creates some accountability. I prefer to have even more accountability than that to keep me on track, so I have a business coach that inspires me and keeps me accountable. There is power in accountability partnerships, whether you have a professional coach (even if you are one!) or have a collegial partner. We can’t do things bigger than ourselves alone. I’ve had the same coach for over five years. She knows me well and keeps me ON TRACK.

Inertia may try to keep us stuck, but by reconnecting with our purpose, clearing our space, and taking intentional steps forward, we can rise again—just like the Phoenix.

Let me know in the comments below what reignites your passion and keeps you going after a break. Sharing our experiences can help build a sense of community and support each other on this journey.

Lori is the co-founder of PRYT with her husband, Michael. Michael and Sarah Greco with Lori will be presenting a training on the PRYT Six Phase a Method starting September 25th. Find out more here.