“Preventing Relapse” Growth Path Highlights

7 Important Points for Staying on Track
 

• Changing your behavior is only half the battle; the other half is staying there.

• A positive way of talking about “staying there” is to persevere. Perseverance means to continue toward your goal in spite of discouragement or setbacks. It speaks to the wondrous human capacity for determination, resilience, or tenacity.

• From a practical standpoint, perseverance refers to continuing toward your goal despite urges to stop, cravings to regress, and slips on the road. To persevere is a true compliment, a blessed word.

• The first and indispensable skill in preventing relapse is to understand the difference between a slip and a fall. Not the same at all! A slip is a single event, a one-time reemergence of an unwanted behavior that need not lead to a fall or a relapse. A fall or a relapse, by contrast, is a complete abandonment of the goal and a retreat back into your old patterns of behavior.

• Fighting feeds the urge; nonjudgmentally watching it will let it subside and pass. It’s called surfing through the urge, or urge surfing. Imagine your urges are like ocean waves that arrive, crest, and then recede. They begin small, will grow, and dissipate. Remember that urges, like big waves, pass by themselves in a few moments.

• The two feelings—decreased self-confidence and old behaviors appearing attractive—conspire to instigate a slip. If not prepared, that slip can provoke a torrent of nasty thoughts about your incompetence and your inability to keep on track.

• When a slip happens, you can persevere, think optimistically and immediately recommit. In fact, slips can actually reinforce your resolve.
    

Explore the full growth path here: Preventing Relapse