“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein

Over the last number of weeks, you’ve answered the “Why,” “When,” and “How” of your passive behavior.

The first stage of making positive change is “awareness.” That means becoming aware that you have a problem, where it came from, and why it’s a behavior you presently use. If you’ve been doing your homework over the last few weeks, you’ve just completed this stage.

Before we start the next stage, however, we want to remember that behaviors are LEARNED habits that have become automatic through repetition and reinforcement. The more we do something over and over, the more automatic it becomes. Habits become automatic responses (second nature, unconsciously doing things without thinking).

“Habit” can be defined as:

• an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary. For example, the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.
• A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
• An established (learned) disposition of the mind or character.

In order to make healthy change, you want to be prepared for change. That means understanding that making change is a process. Change doesn’t happen suddenly. It occurs over time.

So naturally, as you make change, the healthier behavior is going to feel odd, uncomfortable, foreign, awkward, and even a little scary. This is normal for the process of change. If you persevere, however, in time you’ll see that your healthy behavior becomes automatic and the unhealthy behavior fades away.

Commitment to making change is the catalyst required to bring about change. It’s easy to try something half-heartedly, then quit and say, “It doesn’t work.” In order for real change to occur, you need to be prepared to persevere until change is attained. Without commitment and perseverance, it’s unlikely meaningful change will occur.

If you do persevere, however, you’ll notice that your anxiety, worry, and stress will decrease, and the quality of your relationships and satisfaction with life will increase. The benefits are definitely worth the effort. Those that persevere will succeed, and those that choose not to will experience the “same old” results.

Anxiety recovery is about change: changing unhealthy behaviors into healthy ones. When you make this change, you get healthier results.

See you next week.