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When Life Feels Like Pushing Sh*t Uphill: It’s Time to Pause and Reflect

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There comes a moment, often unexpectedly, when life feels like a relentless uphill battle. Every step forward feels like two steps back. You’re pushing hard, grinding through, doing everything you think you should be doing, and yet nothing shifts. It’s exhausting, frustrating, and demoralising. You might even start wondering if this is just your fate.


Here’s the truth:


If you’re pushing sh*t uphill, you’re probably on the wrong track.


Not because you’re weak or lazy, but because something fundamental is out of alignment.


The Philosophy of Flow and Resistance


The ancient Taoist philosophy teaches us about the principle of Wu Wei, often translated as “non-doing” or “effortless action.” It’s the idea that life works best when we move with the natural flow, not against it. Like a river flowing around rocks instead of trying to smash through them.


When life feels like pushing uphill, you are almost certainly resisting that flow.


Resistance is a sign, not a punishment. It’s nature’s way of telling you to pause, reflect, and adjust.


But in our modern culture, the default advice is to “push harder,” “grit your teeth,” or “keep going.” Yet, what if that’s exactly the wrong move? What if the resistance you feel is a guide, not an obstacle?


Examining Your Relationships: The Mirror of Life


When we’re out of sync, it’s rarely just one area of life. Everything is connected.


  • Your relationship with yourself: Are you honouring your needs, listening to your inner wisdom, or are you caught in cycles of self-criticism and neglect? The way you treat yourself sets the foundation for everything else.

  • Your relationships with others: Are your connections supportive, nourishing, and authentic? Or do they drain you, demand too much, or keep you stuck in patterns that don’t serve your growth?

  • Your relationship with the world: Do you feel like life is a cooperative dance partner, or an adversary you must fight? How you perceive the world deeply affects your experience of it.

  • Your body and health: Your body is your home, your vessel. Are you feeding it well? Are you getting enough rest, water, movement? When your body suffers, everything else struggles.

  • Your work and purpose: Are you living a life aligned with your true calling, or caught in roles and “shoulds” that don’t ignite your spirit?


Each relationship area is a reflection of the others, and misalignment in one ripples across all.


The Gift of Challenge: When God Sends Rain Instead of Flowers


Not all resistance means you’re off track. Sometimes, struggle is the soil where growth happens. There’s a beautiful saying:


“When you ask God for flowers, He sends rain.”


We want easy answers, smooth paths, quick fixes. But often, the growth we need comes from the storms, the discomfort, the “rain”, the things we don’t want but need to become who we’re meant to be.


In this way, challenge is a teacher, pruning what no longer serves so new growth can flourish. When you understand this, your whole perspective shifts. You start to welcome the rain, trusting that the flowers will come.


How to Know When to Push and When to Pause


There’s a delicate balance here. Growth often requires effort, but not all effort is equal.


  • If your effort feels energising, purposeful, and leads to progress, keep going.

  • But if your effort feels draining, hopeless, like pushing sh*t uphill with no end in sight, stop. Pause. Reflect. It’s time to reassess.


Remember: True resilience isn’t about endless pushing. It’s about adaptability, awareness, and alignment.


Real Results: A Client’s Journey


To illustrate the kind of transformation possible when you stop pushing and start aligning, here’s a recent message from someone I worked with:


"Hi Emma, just wanted to give you an update… I hope this is ok. I have today just finished working on a boxset for one of my favourite bands ever, a band that was an inspiration when I was a teen. In fact, part of the project involved reworking the very album I discovered them with… so a very special moment. When I got contacted by their manager I was a bit shocked but they told me I came recommended by someone also involved in

the project. I can’t say for sure if it’s a direct result of our work together but what I can say is that I had enough confidence to take on the project and I’m starting to realise that I do have something of value that people want…In fact, we’re planning two other releases between now and 2026, and there are talks of me producing entirely their next album…So that’s pretty awesome. And somehow I do feel your help has had a part in it.”


This is what happens when you realign with your inner truth, heal old wounds, and release the blocks holding you back. The shift is real, and it creates space for opportunity, confidence, and purpose to emerge.


How I Can Support Your Journey Back to Flow


If you’ve been stuck pushing uphill for too long, I want you to know you don’t have to do it alone.


Through my work, I guide people in reconnecting with themselves on a deep subconscious level, releasing inherited and personal trauma, and rebuilding their relationship with self, others, and life itself.


When you start healing from within, you create the space for life to flow naturally again, for the rain to nourish rather than drown.


If you’re ready to stop the struggle and rediscover ease, clarity, and purpose, reach out to learn more about how I can help you make that shift.


Closing Thoughts


Life isn’t meant to be a constant battle. It’s a dance between effort and surrender, growth and rest, challenge and grace.


When you find yourself pushing sh*t uphill, listen closely. It’s not a call to try harder, it’s an invitation to change course.


Trust that the rain you’re experiencing is preparing you for the flowers you’ve been asking for.


And know that the moment you realign with your true self and your natural flow, everything changes.


 
 
 

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