STAGES OF CHANGE

THE SECRET TO SUCCESSFULLY CHANGING?  Be willing to accept the stages of change! Work with them, adjust where needed, and take another step! Instead of feeling like we're stuck in a downward SPIRAL, we need to turn around and take a look at the STAGES OF CHANGE!



I am just beginning to learn the concept of the "Stages of Change." I constantly struggle to be in the ACTION stage, headed toward MAINTENANCE. The truth of the matter is, there are hundreds of mini-steps along the way of relapse, comtemplation over how to proceed, preparation for the next step, and then once I think I've made it again.....a new step presents itself!  This thing we call "changing our life" is much more complicated than we think. We are not only changing in one area of our life; each area affects another, and I am at a different 'stage' in each area! Like I said, it's complicated!  The great thing that I am discovering is that, accepting this concept has a positive result of diffusing guilt and self-recrimination! Accepting the ebb and flow of change as being normal leads to more rapid and consistent movement forward in the spiral UP toward maintenance!