Creating Mental Obstacles

One of the challenges in recovery is moving forward without creating obstacles to stop progress. These are almost always mental obstacles: I can’t do that – I don’t have time – I don’t like that – Not my cup of tea – or the catch-all, there’ s nothing I can do about it.

I don’t know about you, but I have a natural resistance to change. That doesn’t mean I don’t change, it just means I need to really build up momentum to finally push through that wall of resistance.  It’s ironic really. I know I need change; I know change will make things better – yet that resistance still holds me back any time I need to make a major shift. Somehow the promise of something better with the change does not break down the wall immediately like you’d think it would.

I sometimes think it’s a bit of laziness, but then I’m a very productive person, hardly lazy.  Then I think it’s fear: what if the change doesn’t deliver what I expect?  But I’ve made some pretty fearless decisions in my life.  I think it might be more about comfort and familiarity:  it’s a feeling like walking into a room full of strangers and you aren’t sure they are going to accept you. The only way to walk into that room is to say: if they don’t accept me, I’ll at least know I need to find a different room – if I don’t try, I’ll never find the right room for me.