"I'm feeling stuck in my relationship and don't know what to do."
In this Q&A episode, I'm speaking to the common conundrum of what to do when you're feeling stuck in your relationship.
This often happens when we've been trying for some time to make changes (or hoping that our partner will make changes), but we're just not seeing any progress. I'll share an unexpected way that you can shift out of low self-worth and hopelessness, and into a more empowered, self-confident state that will allow you to navigate whatever is happening in your relationship with clarity & trust.
FURTHER LINKS & RESOURCES:
Sign up for my signature 8-week course Healing Anxious Attachment
Follow me on Instagram: @stephanie__rigg & @onattachment
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Episode Transcript
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You're listening to On Attachment, a place to learn about how attachment shapes the way we experience relationships and where you'll gain the guidance, knowledge and practical tools to overcome insecurity and build healthy, thriving relationships. I'm your host, relationship coach Stephanie Rigg, and I'm really glad you're here. You hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of On Attachment. Today's episode is a Q and A episode and I'm going to be talking about what to do when you're feeling stuck in your relationship.
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So this isn't in response to any one question, but it's in response to a lot of questions that are a variation on this theme that I get all the time from people. How do I know whether to keep trying in my relationship? What do I do if my partner is not interested in working through things? What are my options and how do I overcome this feeling of overwhelm and maybe even hopelessness? If you feel like there are issues in your relationship that are unresolved and you maybe feel like you're out of options, or you feel like you've tried lots of things, or you kind of just feel like you're banging.
0:01:19.29 → 0:01:53.68
Your head up against a brick wall trying to get something to change, trying to get your partner to be more engaged maybe your voice needs. But you're not getting any traction or any kind of lasting, sustained change in the right direction. What we can do. And of course, that's a complicated conversation and it's not one that I can give you in a 15 minutes episode. It's not that I can give you the solution for every situation, but this is going to be particularly geared towards anxiously attached people.
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And it's going to offer you almost an invitation or a challenge for you that will allow you to at least take some action for yourself that feels fruitful and rewarding irrespective of what's going on in your relationship. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Before I get into that, a couple of quick announcements. The first being that early bird enrollment for healing anxious attachment closes tomorrow. So that means you've got just over 24 hours to get in at the reduced price, which is $100 cheaper than the regular price.
0:02:26.30 → 0:03:08.67
I've also just added an extended payment plan which allows you to pay for the course over six months and means that you can get started right away for just $80, so hoping that that makes it accessible for as many people as possible. And as I said, the early bird pricing ends tomorrow, so in about 24 hours from when this goes live. So if you are interested in the programme, please do cheque it out via the link in the show notes or by going straight to my website. Stephanierig.com, I would love to have you in the programme. I think at last count, there's 210 or so people who've already signed up in the past few days, which is amazing.
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So I'd love to have you in there. If you are someone who struggles with anxious attachment and you're looking to make some changes and get that support, you know where to find me. The second quick announcement is just to share the featured review, which is stephanie's podcast has been a true revelation for me. I've had so many AHA moments I've lost count. Stephanie delivers her knowledge and wisdom with such clarity, kindness and compassion.
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Listening to her feels like a soft hug every time. I'm so grateful to have discovered her in this podcast. Thank you. Thank you for that beautiful review. I really appreciate it.
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And I'm glad that you have the experience of feeling like you're getting a soft hug every time you listen. That's really nice to hear. If that was your review, please send an email to podcast@stephanierig.com and my team will set you up with free access to one of my master classes as a way to say thank you. Okay, so let's dive into this discussion around what to do when you're feeling stuck in your relationship. So, as I said in the intro, this can encompass so many different things, right?
0:04:11.17 → 0:04:50.06
The content of the stuckness could be a vast array of situations and dynamics. But the common thread here that we're looking for is a sense of feeling. Like you've tried, feeling like you've expressed yourself, like you've asked for things, like you've had these conversations maybe several times, and you're just not seeing any kind of momentum or shifts relationally between you and your partner and you're feeling overwhelmed by that. And maybe to the point of questioning, is this ever going to get better? What more can I do?
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And if it doesn't get better, how long do I wait to find out? And should I think about potentially ending this relationship? So this is a big conversation. Obviously it's pretty loaded and it's pretty heavy sometimes to be toying with those thoughts and emotions. And while I can't offer you, as I said, the answer in any kind of prescriptive way, because obviously it's deeply personal and contextual, my invitation for you or my challenge for you, if you are in this situation, is this.
0:05:23.64 → 0:05:58.84
And as I said, this is mainly for anxiously attached people for the next period of time. So maybe one month or three months. Become so focused on yourself. Now, that might be counterintuitive if you are relationally in this sticky, yucky place. And it's taking up so much of your time and energy thinking about the relationship, thinking about your partner, what they're doing or not doing, and being so scrutinising of their every move and looking at it through this lens of, is this in the right direction?
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Are you taking action on the things that I wanted? Or are you ignoring my needs or whatever? We get so judgmental when we're in that place. I don't mean judgmental. I sort of mean that descriptively, right?
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We are applying a lens of scrutiny to whatever's going on in our relationship when the stakes feel really high and when we're feeling really stuck because we start to look at everything through this lens of should I stay or go? Is this going to get better? It really infuses the relationship with a lot of tension and pressure. The reason that I said this is mainly advice for an anxiously attached person is not because it's not good advice generally. But I think when we overlay anxious attachment onto that sticky place, the tendency for an anxiously attached person is to just be so focused on the relationship and on the other person to the exclusion of all else and certainly to the exclusion of your own relationship with yourself.
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And when things are not good in the relationship, that tends to really drag down your energy and your self esteem and your self worth. And that makes it really hard to be in a position to make a decision about the relationship, about what needs to happen next from an empowered place, because we tend to have this tussle between I'm not sure what to do about my relationship, but at the same time, my self worth is just getting chipped away at day by day. And that leaves me feeling really scarce and afraid about the idea of the relationship not working out. And so I'm likely to be making decisions and even having conversations from this place of very low self worth and that's probably not going to be conducive to making an aligned decision, which is really what is best for us. So again, this is not with a view to needing to end the relationship, but I really believe that the greatest gift you can give yourself is go.
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Okay, I'm going to pivot my attention away from what's happening out there because as I said, anxious attachment, we tend to be very other focused, very outer focused, spending so much time ruminating over what they're thinking and feeling and doing that we lose ourselves in the process. And I think that it can be incredibly empowering in this situation to go, you know what, this is going to be about me for the next period of time. I'm going to focus on my own joy and my own fullness and my own expressiveness for myself, not as some sort of ploy to get their attention, not to make them feel threatened, not to manipulate them into not taking you for granted. It's not about them and that's really, really important here. This is about you.
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And that is actually like the revolutionary thing for an anxious person. You're going to do things for you that are just about you that don't relate to the other person. So what does this look like? You might prioritise yourself a lot more in terms of what you do in a day. If you live with your partner and you're used to orbiting around their routine and their preferences and the things they want to eat and the things they want to do.
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Just let go of that for a bit and go what do I want? What do I want to do with my time? Can I do things differently for myself? Can I take myself out for a meal? Can I start just spending more time alone and prioritising myself and my self?
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Nourishment. In a way that infuses a new energy not only into me but into the relationship that really is a byproduct of it. And I've said this before on the podcast, but the really wonderful thing about doing something like this, about devoting that time to yourself in a really committed, dedicated way, is not only do you build up that relationship with yourself in a way that's probably quite new to you and very empowering and pays dividends for your self worth. But it also allows you to feel like no matter what happens, I'll be okay. Right?
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No matter what happens in my relationship, whether my partner is able to meet my needs or meet me halfway or make the changes that we've talked about or whatever it is, right? Whether that happens or not doesn't have to be a comment on me and my worth and I can really rest in the knowing that it's not about me and I don't need to make it about me and I can kind of feel comfortable that no matter what happens I'll be okay. Because I've started to cultivate this really beautiful relationship with myself in a way that allows me to feel like I'll be okay because I'm creating a rich life that doesn't just orbit around my partner and my relationship. And I think that when we are in that pattern of orbiting around our partner and our relationship, the idea of that being taken away is incredibly destabilising and makes us feel like we'd just be spinning around in space, very lost and afraid. So the more that you can come back to your own centre of gravity and make your life more about you, that's going to be a very very powerful shift for you that you'd be surprised will likely have knock on effects for your relationship.
0:11:13.19 → 0:11:59.76
Although again, to emphasise you're not doing it for that purpose, you are doing it for you first and foremost. But I think the ripple effect of that in shifting relational stuckness can be really profound and even if it doesn't, you will be in such a better position to do whatever you need to do next from this place of greater selfhood, greater self knowing, greater self awareness, greater self esteem, all of those good things. The more you build up that sense of self and relationship with yourself, the better off you will be. So that may not be what you expected by way of advice when you started listening to what to do when you're feeling stuck in your relationship. Because as I said, the default thing as an anxious person is, how can I make them change?
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Right? Oh, I'm feeling stuck because of all these things they're doing or not doing. How can I control them, essentially? How can I influence them to do what I want them to do so that I don't feel like this anymore? But as I said to someone the other day who asked me a version of this question, for me to give you that advice is just to reinforce the pattern that's to reinforce the old way that we're trying to shake, which is, I need to change them in order to feel safe.
0:12:26.40 → 0:12:56.13
I need to be in control of who they are and how they are. And that needs to look like what I want it to look like, because otherwise I feel out of control, and out of control feels unsafe. But that's not sustainable. That's not a sustainable or healthy way to be in relationship. And so the better way is, can I build up my own sense of self and trust that from that place I'll be much better able to navigate a relational dynamic that is balanced, that is reciprocal, and that is empowered.
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So I hope that that has given you some food for thought, and if you're in that place that maybe you can set yourself this challenge of, okay, for the next month, I'm going to go all in on myself. I'm going to be so devoted to me and my life and making that very beautiful and rich and full in a way that isn't contingent upon what my relationship is doing. And even if it's just a month, just do it as a little experiment with yourself and see what happens. See what shifts within you. See what becomes possible from that place.
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I'd love to hear from you. If you do do that and you notice anything, feel free to reach out to me and let me know. If you've enjoyed this episode, please do leave a five star rating if you're on Spotify or a written review if you're on Apple podcasts. It really does help so much. And as I said, healing, anxious attachment.
0:13:46.28 → 0:14:00.44
24 ish hours to go until early bird ends. So if you've been on the fence, now is a really good time to hop off the fence and hop inside. I'd love to see you there. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you on the show next week. Thanks, guys.
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Thanks for joining me for this episode of On Attachment. If you want to go deeper on all things attachment, love and relationships, you can find me on Instagram @stephanie__rigg or at stephanierigg.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a review and a five star rating. It really does help so much. Thanks again for being here and I hope to see you again soon.