Feeling Trapped in Your Career? How to reclaim energy and purpose

From the outside, it might look like you're doing well: leading teams, delivering results, and keeping things afloat. But on the inside, you might feel stuck, demotivated, or even a little lost.

If you're feeling trapped in your career, it's not a sign of failure. It's a sign of awareness. A quiet, persistent message that something in your work life is no longer aligned. And it deserves your attention because somewhere a need is not being met.

You’re not alone in this. Many of the leaders and professionals I coach have hit this point at some stage. The good news? It’s not the end of the road. It’s often the beginning of a better one.

Why you might be feeling trapped in your career

That sense of being stuck at work doesn’t usually come from a single event. It often builds gradually until one day you find yourself asking, “Is this really it?”.

That familiar dread that creeps in on Sunday evenings, the so-called "Sunday Scaries", isn’t just about the end of the weekend. For many, it’s a signal that something deeper is off. A quiet warning that your work no longer energises you, aligns with your values, or brings a sense of purpose.

Here are some of the common experiences my clients bring to coaching:

• Working for a manager who isn't supportive, which chips away at your confidence and leaves you feeling unseen.

• Knowing you’re capable, but not feeling it reflected or recognised in your daily work

• Struggling to secure interviews or job offers, increasing the sense of feeling trapped at work.

• Trying repeatedly to get promoted internally with no success.

• Falling out of love with your role but not knowing how to find a new direction.

• Feeling unable to leave because of the 'trappings' of salary, or professional respect, or the fear of starting over.

These situations can trigger deep self-doubt. You may find yourself thinking:

"I’m not good enough"

"My skills are too niche?"

"I just don’t interview well, so why bother?"

These thoughts aren’t truths, they’re patterns of automatic negative thinking. And they can be shifted.

Real stories from clients who felt stuck

One client came to coaching after losing the spark in her role. She was performing well but no longer felt fulfilled. We started with a deep exploration of her values and what truly mattered to her. Once she saw the gap between her daily tasks and what she cared about, she made small but powerful changes. She delegated where she could, which enabled her to take on more of the work that energised her. In doing this, she discovered she had more agency than she thought and her sense of satisfaction and ownership returned.

Another client felt hopeless after a string of job rejections. She knew she was capable, but her confidence was shaken. In coaching, we worked on reframing how she saw her achievements and strengthened her narrative. I also held her accountable for a simple plan to put themselves in the best possible position to move forward. The combination of mindset work and structured action led to a range of new opportunities leaving my client with a different problem, which opportunity to pursue!

In both stories, the turning point wasn’t dramatic, it was a quiet moment of regaining purpose and reconnecting with what mattered.

How coaching supports people who feel trapped in their career

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach in coaching, and that’s exactly the point. People feel stuck for different reasons and different types of people need different types of support.

Career coaching offers structured support and challenge to help you move from confusion to clarity, helping with:

• Understanding what’s underneath the stuckness whether it’s burnout, fear, or boredom.

• Shifting automatic negative thoughts like “I’m not good enough” or “I have no options,” into more accurate, empowering beliefs.

• Aligning what's important to you and what is missing from your current work life.

• Visualising a future where you are working in a career that is fulfilling.

• Goal setting and accountability, to remove the fog and turn ideas into manageable steps.

• Creating emotional space, with someone who is in your corner and genuinely cares about what you're going through; without judgment but walking alongside you as a partner.

  
  

Some clients find clarity in a few sessions. Others take longer. But the shift always starts with one thing: permission to imagine a different future.

What clients say when things start to shift

Career coaching helps break the cycle of job dissatisfaction by offering a space to think, feel, and act differently. Often, there’s a moment in coaching where a client takes a breath and says something like:

"I just didn't realise how much I default into negative thinking”

"It’s so valuable to set aside the time to focus on what’s important"

"Saying things out loud puts a different perspective on things"

Those moments matter. They mark the turning point, from surviving to rebuilding. From being trapped to being in motion.

You don’t have to stay stuck

With the right support, regaining purpose is not only possible, it’s powerful. If you’re feeling trapped in your career, you don’t need to keep pushing through on your own. You deserve support. You deserve space to reflect, explore, and rediscover what energises you.

Sometimes it just takes someone to walk alongside you to help you hear yourself again.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What should I do if I feel stuck in my job?

Start by listening to that feeling—don’t ignore it. Often, the first step is creating space to reflect on what’s changed and what you truly want. Coaching can help you untangle those thoughts, reconnect with your values, and explore your next steps with more clarity and confidence.

2. Is it normal to feel trapped in your career?

Yes, it’s more common than most people think. Many high-performing professionals hit a point where their role no longer aligns with who they are or what they care about. It’s often a signal for growth.

3. How does coaching help with career burnout or feeling stuck?

Coaching helps you explore what’s underneath the burnout or stuckness, whether it’s misalignment, fear, boredom, or a sense of feeling unappreciated. It offers tools to shift unhelpful thinking, visualise a better future, and turn insight into action. It also provides accountability and emotional support along the way.

4. What are the “Sunday Scaries” and what do they mean?

The “Sunday Scaries” refer to that anxious or heavy feeling that creeps in on Sunday evening, as the weekend winds down and the workweek looms. If this becomes a regular pattern, it may be a signal that something deeper is misaligned in your work life.

5. How do I know if coaching is right for me?

If you’re feeling drained, stuck, or questioning what’s next but struggling to move forward on your own coaching can offer the space, clarity, and support to get unstuck. The best way to know? Book a chemistry call and see how it feels.

If this resonates, I’d love to talk.

You’re welcome to book a free chemistry call or explore more about my coaching services to see whether it might be the right support for you.

This is a no-pressure conversation, just space to reflect on what’s going on and what moving forward could look like.