Ruts don’t show up overnight. They sneak in, step by step. One bad day turns into a bad week. One disappointment feels like proof that things never go your way. It’s slow, almost invisible at first, but over time, those thoughts get worn into your mind, like grooves in an old dirt road. Before you know it, you’re not on a road anymore—you’re in a trench so deep you can’t see over the edge.
Pulitzer prize winner Ellen Glasgow once wrote, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.” We’ve all been there. Feeling stuck, like life is happening to us, and we can’t do anything about it.
Our minds don’t just fall into ruts—they dig them. Our thoughts go sideways at times. Our thinking distorts our perception. We can think:
"If I can’t be perfect, what’s the point?"
"This one mistake is going to ruin everything."
"They didn’t text back. What did I do wrong?"
These thoughts feel real, but they’re just stories. Stories we’ve told ourselves so many times that they’ve started to sound like facts. They create a narrative that keeps us from advancing.
Mark Twain said, “When I was young I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.” When you’re stuck, your mind starts cherry-picking the past. You replay the failures, the rejections, the disappointments. It’s easy to discount the wins. The moments of God’s favor. The moments you laughed so hard your stomach hurt? The times you nailed it when it really mattered? In our insecurity these victories seem fuzzy at best, and completely missing at worst. Memory can be a friend, but it can also distort the reality of your life.
Here is how we can get the hope back. Even in the deepest rut, there’s a way out. It doesn’t come all at once—it starts with the cracks. Leonard Cohen wrote: “There is a crack in everything, and that’s where the light gets in.”
So, what do we do?
Step one is to notice them. The distorted thoughts you’ve been living with. Speak them out. Ask yourself: "Is this really true? Or is it just what I’ve gotten used to thinking?" Just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s true. That’s a crack.
The next step? Let the light in. Replace the distortion with something real, something true:
“Yeah, I failed, but that doesn’t make me a failure.” It’s a question of IDENTITY!
“It didn’t work the way I wanted it to, but the future is not written” A question of PURPOSE!
These new thoughts aren’t fake positivity—they’re just a clearer version of the truth.
Then give yourself some grace. You’re going to mess up. You’ll slip back into the rut. That’s normal. But cracks don’t close just because you stumble. They’re still there, still letting the light in, showing you the way forward.
The rut isn’t forever. It’s just where you are right now. Look for the cracks. Trust the light. And keep moving. You’re not buried—you’re climbing. There is a wide, open sky waiting for you just over the edge.
Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
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