Change of any kind can be challenging. With change can come feelings of ambivalence, excitement, and fear. While there may be joy in the freedom that can come with recovery from substance use and mental illness, you might also feel the fear of uncertainty.
Since change can be overwhelming, it is important to see change as a continual process, not a destination, and take it one step at a time.
Change Takes Time
Change takes time and requires patience and forgiveness. You may often spend time thinking about change before you take tangible steps to implement it. Building awareness around your desire to change, what that might look like, and how you are going to get there, is the first step of the process. Be patient with yourself as you work these things out.
Taking It One Step at a Time
Thinking about all of the ways you would like to experience change can be overwhelming and perhaps lead to self-sabotage due to too-high expectations, doing too much too soon, and burning out before you get going. Because of this, it is important to take change one step at a time.
The process of change is not linear, especially when it comes to healing from mental illness and addiction. What is important is not the speed at which you make change, but your ability to learn to continually meet yourself where you are at with acceptance and compassion every step of the way.
Being Where Your Feet Are
One of the hardest things to do at times is to be where your feet are. This means staying present while holding space for what you desire. There is tension in this process, of both accepting where you are and taking steps to get where you are going. Part of being human is about being in the messy middle of these two spaces.
Where you are now does not determine where you will be in a year from now, and just because what you desire has not happened yet does not mean you will not ever get there.
Embracing change requires embracing the discomfort, excitement, and fear that come with this process. Change requires you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and take steps to get where you are going without resisting where you are. The process of healing is not about the destination, but about the journey.
Change can be a scary but liberating process. As exciting as it can be, it’s also uncomfortable and requires stepping into the unknown. Change is a process, and it is helpful to have support as you leave behind the familiar and lean into the new. At Avalon Malibu, our team is here to guide you through the change that comes with healing through awareness, taking it one step at a time, and learning to be where your feet are. If you are ready for support in your growth, call Avalon Malibu today at (844) 857-5992.
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