More than Unstuck
Have you ever felt stuck? As in call for help, the more you try, the wheels are spinning because you are only getting deeper, stuck?
I have and it’s about the most unsettling, disheartening place to be.
When you are there, you are sure that you are totally alone. But author and pastor, Jimn Kyles, wants you to know that you are not.
This post may include affiliate links. All opinions are mine.
It is my Universe, after all.
Unstuck & Unstoppable
Talking with Jimn about getting unstuck and staying unstoppable.
Below represents an abbreviated take on our discussion.
The full interview will be on “the pebble” podcast TBA.
StarTraci: How did we get here with your book, Unstuck & Unstoppable?
Jim Kyles: … the book is interesting. It's been a journey. Really, it's been my story of the last 20 years is a little bit, I didn't realize that it would end up being a book. But in 2020, I think everybody was feeling stuck after COVID…And I just remember feeling extremely stuck not knowing what to do. So I just began to pray. And then out of that, I write about it in the book, I tend to a passage in Acts, Acts chapter 20, verse 10. In that passage, it actually Paul is shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and shipwreck, but about three months later, it said just a few few words, says him when he was ready. The people provided what he needed to set sail. Those words just leapt off the page.
And when he was ready
JK: , I just felt a moment of being stuck is not passive.
When I do what I am supposed to do, in the season that I'm in, that'll provide a way out. And so that was the journey.
Become Unstoppable
StarTraci: But staying unstuck, that concept of being unstoppable, the momentum that is created when you're moving forward in the right direction…this is exactly why I wanted the chance to speak with you because what you're writing about is that we're here and when we're in line with what we're here for, then everything benefits.
JK: You got to change your thoughts if you're going to change your life. And what I find is that,
we don't get stuck in life because of what happens to us we get stuck because what happens in us
Yes, so it's, it's what what happens within us and much more than that we move forward.
This particular quote stuck with me as I say this to my children almost on the daily. I also think it explains why some experience horrific events and move on to happy, successful lives and others seem stymied by even the smallest events.
Jimn and I had a wonderful conversation about this and there is a dedicated chapter including an actionable list of building blocks.
JK: I found a study National Science Foundation in 2005, there was an article about people having anywhere from 12-60,000 thoughts in a day, 80% of those thoughts are negative and 95% of repetitive. And so subconsciously, and even unconsciously, there's a program that's running your life. And I think that's the power of becoming unstoppable is recognizing,
“Hey, maybe it's me, sabotaging my life”?
Self sabotage, is what I find happens more often than not? It's something that I speak to, and how do you discover if I'm self sabotaging? What am I going to do to get to help heal from that?
Another deep dive in the book is the Top Five Regrets of the Dying. No one wants to be regretful in those last days, and yet I think all of us have faced at least on this list. Whether not working too hard or living your dreams without worrying about others, Jimn talks about how they all come back around to your central vision for your life.
Not just unstuck
That’s the heart of the book. Many writers will tell you how to get over a bad moment. This is for when the bad moments had become a station in life.
JK: Here's what happens when you get stuck. When you're stuck for a little bit, you still can see beyond your pain. But once you've been stuck for a little while, it's hard to see beyond the pain, you go from feeling stuck to what I talked about feeling stranded. Stuck is just a temporary condition of circumstance, stranded is without hope. So I got stuck. So my car broke down, I'm stuck to the office to my wife, wife picks me up, okay, you stop. There's alternatives. There's options. There's, but I'm stranded at the airport because there's no flights out where there's no options.
So when you start to hear those hopeless phrases, and when I'm talking and coaching people, that's one of the things that's a clear indicator. They've lost vision.
Nor can they see any kind of possible new reality. And so vision is so imperative. Whenever you get a vision, you got to say, look, there's something beyond where I am right now, that helps me see beyond this day of pain, and allows me to go and start taking steps towards a future reality that God has for me because the pain may be all you can see now, but it's not all that there is.
A Vision above Sight
Vision is what keeps us uplifted and moving forward in our lives even when we will sightless. I enjoyed the book and recommend it as an easy, walk-thru read. The language is plain but spoken from passion and faith.
Helping you be Unstoppable
I enjoyed the book so much that I will be giving one copy away. Leave me a comment as to what you think gets you stuck. That’s all. I will then select a winner randomly.
Giveaway open to US Residents Only. Ends 11:59, 3/16/23
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A big thank you to Jimn Kyles for his time. Stay tuned for details on the new podcast, “the pebble”.
