Why Chaos, Discomfort, and Breakdowns Usually Mean You’re Getting Closer to Your Dream Life

By Jenny Smith Mattfeldt | Published July 22, 2025

The Most Surefire Way to Spot If You’re About to Uplevel Your Life

It really sucks right now.

It all seems random until you realize there’s a pattern. If you’re in a phase where it feels like you can’t take it anymore—where everything that could go wrong is going wrong—pause for a moment. Celebrate this feeling. It’s a significant energetic sign that you’re on the verge of a major uplevel.

Energetically, when we’ve outgrown our current situation, it feels like being a fish in a tank that’s too small. You become restless, frustrated, and claustrophobic. When you ask the universe for something bigger, don’t be surprised if it starts to hurt where you currently are.

When you ask for more, it can look like everything falling apart. But that collapse? That friction? Those tight, uncomfortable moments? They are your growing pains. The only way past them is through them.

💥 “In the Meantime” Tools for Surviving This Phase

Pray About It

Use a simple script if you don’t have the words. If you don't know what to say, try this:

“God, show me what’s coming. Help me see my future. Give me just a glimpse of what I’m working toward. Help me feel Your peace in this uncomfortable stretch. Let me trust that this is leading somewhere good.”

Get It All Out of Your Head

Write down everything that’s wrong. List every complaint, stressor, fear, and gut-punch feeling you have. Seeing it on paper helps clarify your thoughts. You might realize the monster is smaller than it feels, or at least it won’t feel like it’s taking over your brain.

EFT Tap on It

You know this will sneak its way into my list. Tapping is one of the easiest ways to shift how you feel. It calms your nervous system, grounds you, and helps release pressure without needing to “figure it all out” first.

Move Your Body with No Pressure

This isn’t about a workout. It’s about movement. Go for a walk without your phone. Stretch on the floor. Dance to one song in your kitchen. Let your body process some of this tension.

Text One Friend Who Gets It

Reach out to a friend who understands. Not the one who will give endless advice, but the one who says, “ugh, same.” That simple connection can anchor you back into reality when your world feels like it’s crumbling.

Look Back on What You've Already Made It Through

Pull up an old journal entry, photo, or memory from a time you thought you wouldn’t make it—but you did. Remind yourself you’ve overcome challenges before. You do get through things, and they often end up looking even better than you could have imagined.

⚡️ The Other Side

Then, when you least expect it, woosh. The air clears. The weight lifts. You breathe again. Suddenly, the space around you feels bigger, brighter, and more you than anything that came before.

The hardest part is that we often have a specific idea of how things should go. We make plans and picture paths. When life veers off course, it feels like everything is falling apart. It feels like we’ve lost control.

But here’s the other side of that truth: What’s waiting for us is almost always greater, more aligned, and more perfect than anything we could’ve planned for ourselves.

If everything felt smooth and easy all the time, we’d have no reason to stretch, dig deeper, or grow. Growth requires friction. Becoming the version of you who can hold that big, beautiful dream life takes pressure, expansion, and discomfort—again and again.

You’re not breaking down. You’re breaking through.

Save this for the days that feel impossible. Send it to a friend or come back to it when you forget what all this is for. You are so much closer than it feels.

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