Feeling Stuck? Try Assessing Where You Are

Feeling Stuck? Try Assessing Where You Are

Today we are talking about the importance of knowing where you are to know where you're going. So a few years back, I was out on a camping trip, and I was with a friend. And we looked at the map, and we thought we were gonna heading toward a certain waterfall. And a hike that should have taken about an hour ended up taking about three.  We got a little lost, it was nothing scary. But it took us a while to get to where we were trying to go. And it turned out that the map we had, was not correct. We didn't know where we were, so of course, we couldn't figure out where we were going. 

I see this often with my clients, if someone is feeling stuck, if someone feels like they were they're out of alignment, if they feel like something is off. And really, no matter the reason a client comes to me, it's really important for us to know where we are. So we can figure out even where we want to go, we need to take stock and do an assessment of where we are to find out where we're going. So we won't spend two extra hours lost in the woods.   

One of the very first exercises that I do with a brand new client is something called the wheel of life. Now, the wheel of life is an actual wheel with different elements of our life. The wheel of life that I use has home, career, family, physical well-being and health, love and romantic life, spiritual fulfillment, philanthropy greater impact, finances, dreams, and what I mean by dreams are, like my dreams for the future, and creative life. Now, you could insert anything into your wheel of life, so if one of those categories didn't resonate with you, you could cross it off and put something there that might feel a little bit more fulfilling. For instance, instead of creative life, you might have parenting, whatever it is, Make it your own. 

Then you'll rate each one on a scale of 1-10. I say one represents it’s in the toilet. Ten is so great, it could have its own Instagram account. Now the goal here is not for them to all be 10s. That's unrealistic. Everything in our life has its own season, when one season is in summer, another category might be in winter, and that's fine. It's not realistic, nor is that ideal, to have all of those a tent at the same time. 

Once you take a look and assess where you are, it's giving you the map.  It’s the “you are here” sign on the map before you start your hike, before you begin a journey.  You now know where you are, so you can decide where it is that you actually want to go. What I have found is that when clients do this particular exercise, this one seemingly simple exercise can have a tremendous amount of impact because you might see that certain areas of your life are actually way better than you thought they were. And in some cases they're nowhere near as good as you thought they were. 

It's important to look holistically at each of these areas of life. Not just giving them a number, per se, but also taking some time for each of those areas to write one thing that's going really well in that area and one thing that's not going well at all.  By doing this, it gives you a more holistic view of what's happening within your life on the “you are here map”. 

This is a perfect place to start for anybody looking to do a little bit of growth or personal development work. This one seemingly simple exercise alone can lead to breakthroughs and Aha’S.  Give it a try hit the button below to download my Compass of Your Year Workbook which will include a wheel of life assessment on pages 11 and 12.

Alisha Wielfaert is a life coach and an expert facilitator skilled in the art of gathering women for meaningful connection and deep dives into spirituality and creativity.  She is the founder of Yoke and Abundance, a platform committed to amplifying the emerging voices of women through her wise women podcast, press publishing arm, and individual and group coaching programs.  Her first book, the best-seller, “Little Failures: Learning to Build Resilience Through Everyday Setbacks, Challenges, and Obstacles,” was published in May of 2022.  Alisha is working on her second book, Little Rituals.  In her spare time and stolen moments, Alisha loves watercolor painting.  She is an avid traveler, writer, and speaker who enjoys working with anyone with a propensity to take action toward their dreams.