Why Am I Stuck? The Hidden Purpose of Setbacks in Your Soul’s Evolution
Doesn’t it often feel like just as you’re about to step onto that mountain top of your dreams, life kicks you in the butt and knocks you back down?
That’s been my experience lately. And, honestly, it’s not the first time.
Last year was one of the hardest I’ve faced. No matter what I tried, nothing worked out the way I hoped. All the things I thought I understood about life, the universe, and everything just didn’t seem to apply anymore.
Not visualization, meditation, vision boards, or positive thinking. Nothing worked. Nothing made any difference whatsoever.
It was frustrating and disheartening, to say the least. And with all honesty I can say that I’m so done with emotional turmoil at this point in my life. For the last ten years it’s felt like just as I’ve thought I’ve learned my lessons and moved toward success, I’ve been kicked back by the universe.
Talk about taking one step forward, two steps back.
But as with all challenges, it came with a lesson I needed to learn. It wasn’t until I stopped resisting and turned inward that the true meaning of my experience became clear.
The truth I learned about life is this:
Life is not a straight path; it moves in cycles. Just like day follows night and the seasons shift between growth and rest, our lives follow a natural rhythm of expansion and contraction.
We experience periods of progress, excitement, and outward momentum, followed by phases of slowing down, reflecting, and realigning.
And rather than moving in circles, life follows an upward spiral, where each cycle repeats with deeper lessons and greater awareness.
Understanding this pattern helps us accept both the highs and the lows, trusting that every phase has a purpose in our growth and evolution.
Key Takeaways
Setbacks Are a Natural Part of Growth – Life follows a cyclical, spiraling pattern of expansion and contraction. Feeling stuck doesn’t mean you’re failing; it means you’re evolving to a higher level of awareness.
The Dark Night of the Soul Is a Spiritual Transformation – Periods of deep struggle often lead to profound inner growth, revealing deeper truths and realigning you with your soul’s purpose.
Trust the Process and Surrender – The key to moving forward is awareness, acceptance, and alignment. By embracing where you are and letting go of resistance, you allow life to guide you to even greater heights.
The Dark Night of the Soul
What I’ve been through lately is what’s known as “the dark night of the soul”.
The Dark Night of the Soul is a period of deep inner turmoil, existential crisis, and profound spiritual transformation.
It’s characterised by feeling lost, disconnected from meaning, and stripped of previous beliefs or comforts. It also involves intense emotional suffering.
Crappy as all suffering is,
Spiritually speaking, It is a purification process. One that leads to further spiritual awakening and inner peace.
While painful, the Dark Night of the soul is a transition to a higher state of consciousness, where the ego dissolves, and deeper truth is revealed.
It is a process that every soul goes through as part of the soul’s journey.
For some, it may not happen in this lifetime.
For others, it may happen multiple times. For all souls, at some point of their journey, this life or the next, it is a phase that must be gone through to evolve.
Sometimes Feeling Stuck Is Actually Evolution
So this is why things don’t always go the way you want them to and you might feel stuck or even going backwards:
What you are experiencing is a part of your soul’s evolution.
Your life may not be about physical pleasures anymore, such as acquiring more wealth, a bigger house and a new car.
Your life may be evolving into something more, something that has a “higher” purpose and a deeper meaning.
Now don’t get me wrong,
I’m positive that free will is your birthright. You are always in control and are able to choose the direction your life will be heading.
But who “you” are, is a three-part being. You have a body, a mind, and a spirit (soul). And in the case of the dark night of the soul, it will be quite clearly revealed to you (your conscious mind) which one of the three parts is really in control.
I don’t want to sound discouraging, because that would be misunderstanding the process of soul’s evolution.
If you enjoy earthly pleasures and material wealth, you don’t have to let those go to progress.
You can still enjoy the joys of the body and mind while the spirit evolves.
And as the soul progresses and evolves, it will become all the more easier to acquire the things you’ve always dreamed of.
Yet it is the process of surrendering and letting go that is often required to progress through life, spiralling to even greater heights.
So if you are feeling stuck, know that the answer lies in letting go and accepting the situation.
Accept the uncertainty of the future and your life. Trust the process. Trust that everything is working in your favor.
Understanding the Soul’s Journey
To understand this concept more, I will briefly describe the soul’s journey.
Your soul is infinite and timeless. It has always been, is now, and will always be. As such, the soul’s progression is not a straight line or a one-time ascent. Instead, it follows a cyclical and spiraling pattern.
As the soul evolves, it learns profound lessons of love, wisdom, and unity, but the cycle never truly ends. The soul progresses through what are known as “densities”, learning different things about the true nature of itself and gathering experiences in the process.
There are 8 densities to go through, the eight being simultaneously the first of a new level of existence. Once the soul reaches the eighth density it begins the cycle again—but on a higher level or dimension.
This cyclical nature reflects the spiraling process of growth, where each complete cycle brings the soul to a higher state of awareness, greater understanding, and deeper connection to the universal consciousness.
The eighth density is not an endpoint; it is a transition point, where the soul, now fully awakened, begins a new cycle in an even higher dimension of being. In this way, the soul’s journey is ever-expanding, constantly refining itself and spiraling upwards toward even greater states of unity with the Creator.
The Spiral of Life: Expansion and Contraction
Just as life in the physical world moves in cycles, like the changing seasons, the phases of the moon, or the rhythm of day and night, the soul’s journey follows a similar pattern of expansion and contraction.
These cycles are part of a larger cosmic rhythm, where growth is not simply linear but spiraling.
Each time the soul completes a cycle through the densities, it has deepened its understanding, refined its consciousness, and grown closer to the infinite unity.
The soul’s journey is a process of repeated spirals, where the fundamental lessons of love, wisdom, and unity are revisited, but each time with greater depth and a higher perspective.
In this sense, life on Earth can feel like we are ‘stuck’, facing familiar challenges or patterns, only to encounter them again in a deeper way.
But as we evolve, we gain new insights, tools, and abilities to navigate these cycles.
This is the nature of the upward spiral: the soul revisits its lessons in each cycle, but never at the same level, but always at a higher level of consciousness.
The Soul’s Infinite Cycle
After reaching the eighth density, the soul does not simply cease to exist or achieve finality.
Instead, it restarts its journey in a new, higher dimension. Think of it like climbing a spiral staircase, where each complete turn brings you to a higher floor.
This spiral model tries to convey the infinite nature of spiritual evolution in an understandable way:
there is always a next step, a higher dimension, a new cycle to experience. The soul is constantly growing and evolving, not in a linear progression, but in an ongoing process of expansion and contraction, continuously spiraling upward, deepening its understanding, and moving closer to the ultimate unity.
The journey through densities is a cyclical and spiraling process of growth.
Every cycle, every density, is part of an eternal rhythm of self-discovery, where the soul continually returns to the truth of who it really is: a divine aspect of the Creator, evolving toward greater levels of unity and being.
What to Do When Nothing Works?
That was a lengthy explanation of why you might feel stuck or face setbacks.
It could be because of the cyclical nature of life, where patterns and lessons are repeated for the purpose of the soul’s evolution.
It might feel like you are stuck, but what is really happening is that your are experiencing the edge of the spiral, just as it’s about to swing back to even greater heights.
Trust me: Just as day always follows the night, so does happiness always follow struggles. You are not stuck – you are growing.
Painful as it may be, trust in the process.
But to help you on your way,
Here are my best tips that I learned from my dark night of the soul to help you on your journey:
1. Awareness
Awareness is the first step to changing your experience.
Awareness is like knowing your position on the map; how can you find a way out if you don’t know where you are?
Good news! If you’ve read this far, you’ve already gained awareness of what’s going on in your life.
If you don’t feel like this is it, know that you will always find the answers within you.
Stop and listen – you will find the answer.
It could be a line of dialogue you hear on the streets, a title of a book, or, as in my case, a video on YouTube. The answers are everywhere, if you just stop and listen, and be aware.
2. Acceptance
Accept the reality of your situation.
If awareness is knowing your position on the map, acceptance is, well, accepting that you are stuck in the bog.
It’s no use denying you’re stuck.
But when you accept that you’re stuck, you can start planning your way out.
Now, acceptance does not mean quitting and losing all hope. Quite the contrary.
Acceptance is the second step to changing your experience. When you accept what is, you claim the power to change it. Accept your situation, and you will open new doors in your mind for answers to come.
When you accept your situation, you can start working on actual strategies to get yourself out of it.
3. Alignment
Alignment with your preferred outcome is the third step to changing your experience.
Sticking to our map analogy, alignment is akin to plotting a route from your current location to your destination.
Once you’ve identified where you are (awareness) and accepted your current reality (acceptance), the next step is to consciously align your thoughts, actions, and energy with the outcome you desire.
Alignment means more than just setting goals. It’s about embodying the mindset, habits, and emotions that resonate with your vision, aligning your thoughts, words, and actions to your desired outcome.
Conclusion: Awareness, Acceptance and Trusting the Process
Feeling stuck or facing setbacks is frustrating, but they are not signs of failure.
Rather, they are essential parts of your evolution.
Life moves in cycles, not straight lines, and each challenge you face is an opportunity to deepen your understanding, refine your awareness, and grow into a higher version of yourself.
If, like me, you are facing the Dark Night of the Soul, it may feel overwhelming.
Yet, knowing that it is ultimately a transition to greater clarity and inner peace will help you navigate through it.
The key to moving on from being stuck, is to trust the process, surrender to the lessons and the cyclical nature of growth.
Remember, just as night always gives way to dawn, your struggles will lead to breakthroughs.
You are not stuck—you are evolving.
Stay aware, accept where you are, and align with where you want to go.
The upward spiral of your soul’s journey will always lift you to greater heights.
Disclaimer
The entire contents of this blog are based upon the opinions of the author. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this blog is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care professional before trying any of the products or methods based on this content. I cannot guarantee that you will be free of stress, anxiety or depression, or that you will be happy. I simply want to share with you what I have discovered during my twenty years of seeking happiness and what has worked for me may not work for you.
