At some point in my past, I picked up a very bad habit. I learned to look at myself as being stuck in situations. Stuck in the school or workplace, stuck in relationships, and stuck in accommodations.
I saw my jobs as things I couldn't leave for various reasons. Maybe there was no one to replace me, and I'd feel like I was burdening the company to replace me. Maybe I'd just negotiated a raise with benefits, and to leave would make it feel like I hadn't appreciated that. Maybe I was afraid that to change jobs would mean a potentially drastic pay cut.
Leases and roommates kept me stuck in housing situations. I didn't want to let anyone down, and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging. It didn't keep me from wanting out though, so I trudged along until I figured out how to get unstuck.
In a way I guess I could say I've been fortunate that I've not really been stuck in too many relationships, whether romantic or platonic. Some tricky ones took a bit of figuring out and distancing, and there were moments of feeling stuck in one relationship or another, but nothing long lasting. I have friends however that have dealt much more with this problem, and as of yet have been unable to get themselves unstuck. They will, eventually and hopefully.
Feeling stuck is something I do to myself. No one else makes me feel like I'm stuck in a situation, only I do. I was talking to a coworker about future goals, and my thought was that without training someone over a course of time to replace me, I'm the only one who can do my job. She casually commented that I'm not irreplaceable, that there other people out there who can do my job, and probably do it better. It was a comment that relaxed me, not because I want to be replaced or anything, but because it sort of melted that feeling of being stuck away.
Don't allow yourself to think of stuck, or you will be, but only by yourself. If you need to get out of something, anything, you can. It's very possible that someone will end up feeling hurt, and it may even be you, but isn't a little pain worth the freedom? Feeling stuck is a negative emotion, and it's not going to benefit anyone in the long run.
