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Lasting change begins with honest self-awareness and self-compassion.

There’s often one behaviour that, if we stopped or started doing it, would make a big difference for us.

We can lean on behaviour change strategies and take small, intentional steps to help change stick.

If you’re like most people, you’ve tried at one point or another to change your behaviour, likely with varying degrees of success. Maybe you set out to reduce your screen time, and it worked for a week or two before you found yourself scrolling late into the night again. Or you decided to drink more water, only to forget as soon as your days got busier. Or perhaps you wanted to stick to a budget, but the moment something caught your eye, you felt that plan start to slip.

We know change is hard and that it doesn’t just happen because we want it badly enough. In a previous post, we explored why it can feel so difficult and why getting curious about your relationship with it is a great place to start.

Before we think about where change may be needed and how to approach it, my gentle invitation is to acknowledge that every habit, coping pattern, and way of moving through the world you’ve developed has served a purpose. Every behaviour, even the ones you’re ready to leave behind, has met a need at some point. Some are adaptive and move us closer to our goals, while other behaviours are maladaptive and move us further away. There’s no place for judgment or shame here. We know that doesn’t change behaviour. Yet........

© Psychology Today