Relapse...Bounce Back...

Relapse: to fall or slip back into a former state, or practice.  Think about that for a moment.  Most people equate relapses to drugs.  If you really take a look at the definition though, you'll realize that it applies to everything.  There are a few practices that I've invited into my life and a few that I've decided should leave the party.  For example, cursing.  Although, I don't curse that much, I'm doing my best to eliminate it from my vocabulary.  The one time that my rule goes out the window is when I'm upset, but I'm sure a lot of you let the fun 4-letter words slip when you're upset too, lol.  Well, a short while ago, something pushed me to the brink and those not so nice words were as fluid as a waterfall.  To make matters worse, I was frustrated with myself.  I felt that I let myself down because I was doing exactly what I didn't want to do, so that made me even more upset.  Before I knew it, days later, I was still throwing out a word here and there for comical use and ignoring it.  A few days later, I heard myself, and stopped immediately. There was absoultely no need to continue to curse for whatever the reason.  Right then I realized, I had relapsed on my desire to eliminate cursing.

Another thing that I've been doing and have shared with you is the changing of my mindset.  I'm not allowing my emotions to dictate my actions, for the most part anyway, lol.  I'm always actively choosing to see things in the positive, but every now and then, something happens that throws me off track.  In the last few weeks, I've gotten so much bad news from family and friends.  I'm one of those people who grieves and worries right along with you despite it not being my situation.  Needless to say, it was saddening and a little angering.  Before I knew it, there was leaving, the mindset that I consistently worked on day after day to achieve.  Once again, I relapsed. 

A few of my closer friends have gone through a lot in the past few weeks.  I'll get calls that put life into perspective every single time for me.  They'll tell me of all they did to keep a good outlook, but it didn't make a difference for that particular situation.  In their angst, in their feeling of frustration, they were on the path to momentarily giving the middle finger to everything.  I realized that they too...yup, you guessed it...relapsed.

In my work history, I've dealt with clients that had mental health issues coupled with subsance abuse issues.  Everytime I see them, at least one of them tells me how they were on the path of sobriety and one day, they just relapsed.  This may be no shock to anyone because that's a usual occurence for someone who's trying to quit drugs, alcohol, or any addiction they're battling.  No matter how bad or how long the relapse lasts, they always tell me how they're going to get back on the wagon and try again.  This got me thinking.

Whether you're battling drugs, weight, negativity, a chosen path, or anything else, you can always come back from your relapse.  Relapsing doesn't mean that you've failed.  It just means that you have another chance to try again and this time, more successfully.  See you been through it before, so now you know what to look for and what to avoid.  You can find coping mechanisms that will assist you in getting over that hump that knocked you down before.  For me, I now know to take a deep breath and think before I respond at all.  It gives me a chance to put things into perspective which almost always changes my response.  If you're going through anything, you can get through it and see it to the end.  I've heard that people say that relapse is a part of recovery.  When I hear that, it actually comforts me to know at some point, everyone doing anything that's worthwhile will indeed fall...it's about getting up after you've fallen.  It's about continuing to move.  You can be on the right path, but if you're not moving you'll never get anywhere.

To everyone reading this, know that your current relapse is preparing you to overcome the next possible one that comes your way.  The difference will be that you've been there and done that, so you won't relapse.  You'll jump right over it, move on, and succeed!

Until next time...keep the forward movement...