stages of personal change + the unexpected shape of success

You broke your resolution. That’s ok.

You are not a loser.

Regression is a stage of personal change.

The first stage: Precontemplation.

When you’re living in the dark.

You have yet to come to consciousness

Or admit that anything’s wrong.

Denial is not just a river…yadda yadda.

The second stage: contemplation.

You are aware of the problem and ponder it.

(See you ponder. Ponder, you, ponder.)

The third stage: preparation/determination.

You’re committed, dammit! You promise

To shake the world.

The fourth stage: action/willpower.

You’re changing! You are! Except maybe

Not so much

(This is often the shortest of the stages.)

The fifth stage: maintenance.

You embed the change into your life

And avoid relapse.

(Or not.)

The sixth stage: um, relapse.

Fall from grace.

The cigarette. The cake. The inappropriate lover.

(Don’t judge the ones who sin

differently than you do.)

Take a breath.

Figure out what triggered the behavior.

Begin again.

You are not

back where you started

But somewhere higher

With a deepened understanding of yourself.

Success is not a straight line.

It is a spiral.

And the spiral is the ancient symbol

Of evolution

And the divine.