A woman told me last month that she was stuck. She had been doing the work for six weeks. She was praying, she was showing up, she was doing her one honest step every week. And she felt nothing was happening.
I asked her one question. Six weeks ago, could you have told me the thing you just told me?
She went quiet. Then she said no.
That is the growing stage. It does not feel like growth. It feels like slow. The caterpillar does not know it is becoming anything; it only knows it is eating and moving and tired.
Here is how I tell the difference.
Stuck repeats the same week. Same words, same excuses, same hiding place. Nothing gets named that was not named before.
Slow names one new thing. Even a small one. Even badly. You said the hard thing to your sister. You did not send the message you always send. You sat in church and did not leave early.
If you can find one new thing, you are not stuck. You are slow. And slow is the only speed this ever happens at.
One honest step for this week: write down the one thing you can say now that you could not say six weeks ago. Keep it somewhere you will see it.