When you feel stuck and just not yourself

What to do when you feel off, overwhelmed, or disconnected

Hi there,

If you’re going through something hard right now, I want to speak directly to you. And even if you’re not in a crisis — maybe you’re simply feeling off, stuck, emotional for no clear reason, or like your life is not where you want it to be — this is for you, too.

The truth is, every human being hits seasons where life feels heavy, unclear, or out of alignment. As if the internal metronome that normally keeps us moving forward is suddenly out of sync. You wake up with a heaviness you can’t explain.

I want to walk you through the practices I use myself — and the ones I’ve taught for years — to support people when life feels heavy or uncertain.

I grew up a first-generation American in a home shaped by the emotional residue of immigration, war, and survival. Optimism was not the currency. Caution was. We didn’t talk much about optimism, joy, possibility, or mental health. My father was brilliant, intellectual, and deeply mentally ill. He lived in his head and not in his body. My mother, who had so much potential, spent years in a horrible marriage and poured every ounce of herself into me and my sisters. That emotional inheritance doesn’t simply disappear in adulthood. It becomes a lens. A way of predicting disappointment before giving yourself permission to imagine possibility.

But even people raised in loving, optimistic homes get stuck. Feeling “stuck” is one of the worst emotional experiences because we need to feel a sense of progress.

We don’t need constant happiness. We need meaning, direction, movement. When you feel like you’re treading water emotionally, it’s easy to spiral.

So here are the five things I do and teach when I feel off, down, overwhelmed, or disconnected from myself.