5 Steps to Spring into Action; Rebirth

Definition of Action:

Noun

The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim

A thing done; an act

While I was starting my healing journey, it didn’t dawn on me that part of that journey would mean I would have to do things for myself, I would have to act. Honestly, I thought just going to my therapy appointments, twice a month, talking for at least 30 minutes was what was going to fix me completely. Let me tell you I was so wrong.

It had to be when I started college that I thought I was pretty much healed because I felt like therapy was not needed for me anymore. 

Quick note: nobody but your therapist can tell you if you need to quit therapy (very different from noticing if your therapist is the right one for you).

At that time in my life, it felt like therapy was just a motion I was going through and didn’t need to continue. I felt like somewhat like my “old” self and that was my goal at the time. I wanted to feel like I was in control, had all my emotions back, and could walk around with a lot less fear than before.

As I was continuing throughout my undergraduate career, I started to realize I was making the same life mistakes over and over again and started to spiral into another depressive episode almost every other month. Once I realized this was happening, I had to start to go back to what I had learned in therapy and start to apply that information. It took me a while to remember those tasks because I thought I never would need them in my future life so they were never written down. So, to this day I follow the 5 steps below.

5 Steps to Spring Into Action

1. Journal & Meditate – The best way to determine patterns is to have a journal & meditation practice. Making time throughout the week to meditate on what has happened the past week and writing git down in a journal helps to make sense of your thoughts, patterns, and emotions.

2. Therapy & Practice – It is important to incorporate therapy sessions, but also the lessons and activities you get from therapy. It doesn’t also hurt to practice past homework you got from those sessions so they stay fresh in your memory.

3. Integrate – Take all the lessons you learned through therapy and apply those lessons to your life. When you start to integrate those lessons, you start to re-alter the path of your life

4. Rinse & Repeat – it is simple, repeat steps 1 – 3. It takes repetition for things to become a new habit for yourself and it can take time for it to feel natural.

5. Reflection – it doesn’t have days of reflection and rest. In order for you to take the right actions, resting, resetting, and reflecting help with that. It allows for you to see patterns that are emerging, good and bad, and it allows for you to find the key lessons you are supposed to be learning and have learned. Make sure you take some time to rest and reflect each quarter or how often you need it. A great activity to do some reflection on is going on a hike.

Taking these steps can really start to get you into a more positive mindset, take action towards your healing journey and get you out of past mistakes or patterns you want to shed from your life. Keep this post saved so you can always refer back to it throughout your healing in progress.