New Year, New decade, renewed determination; tis’ the season for resolutions and change. Are you ready to change? Really ready?
Every year when I was in pain I would think, this is the year. The year I will find the answers to my pain. I will get my life back. As the year would start I would research new therapy ideas and try them, or decide they were crazy or worthless and eventually the renewed determination was snuffed out.
As I look back and reflect on all those New Years and resolutions I realized I wasn’t really ready to change. That may sound crazy because I was firmly committed to getting better, but I wasn’t really ready to change the way I approached the pain. I was unwilling to hear anything that was different than I already believed.
It took me a long time to be ready to give up on doing the same thing over and over again in different ways. When I started learning about the science of pain I thought people were saying my pain was in my head. They weren’t. When someone first said maybe the things that helped didn’t help for the reasons I thought they did, I thought they said I made up feeling better. That’s not what they were saying. When I was told my nervous system was sensitive, I thought they meant that I was overly emotional. Also wrong.
That list goes on and on and on. I wasn’t ready until I was really ready. When I was ready, I struggled with new information and slowly changed, and that is when my pain actually started changing.
Are you ready for change? Ready to admit the years of therapies, injections, and surgeries have not worked to enable the life you envisioned?
it is important to recognize where you are in the cycle of change–what your “readiness for change” is–so you can set appropriate goals and action steps and determine the best strategies. To elaborate, if you set goals that you are not ready for, you set yourself up for failure. Similarly, if you choose goals that you have already mastered, you will delay your progress. But if you match your goals to your stage of change, you will maximize your ability to change.
The Stages of Change
STAGES-OF-CHANGE CHARACTERISTICS AND STRATEGIES
| STAGE | CHARACTERISTICS | STRATEGIES |
| Precontemplation | The person is not even considering changing. They may be “in denial” about their health problem, or not consider it serious. They may have tried unsuccessfully to change so many times that they have given up. | Educate on risks versus benefits and positive outcomes related to change |
| Contemplation | The person is ambivalent about changing. During this stage, the person weighs benefits versus costs or barriers (e.g., time, expense, bother, fear). | Identify barriers and misconceptions.Address concerns Identify support systems |
| Preparation | The person is prepared to experiment with small changes. | Develop realistic goals and timeline for change.Provide positive reinforcement |
| Action | The person takes definitive action to change behavior. | Provide positive reinforcement |
| Maintenance and Relapse Prevention | The person strives to maintain the new behavior over the long term. | Provide encouragement and support |
Source: Zimmerman et al., 2000; Tabor and Lopez, 2004
Moving along the process of change
Pre-contemplation
While you might not be sure you are ready or need to make changes now, you’ve taken a positive step by beginning to consider setting goals or seeking out different information.
Try this: Become more informed—learn what you can about your desired change. When you’re ready to take steps toward your goal, you can start.
Contemplation
Chances are, you feel stuck right now-caught between understanding you have a problem and knowing how to solve it.
Try this: transform your vague ideas for change into concrete, achievable steps. You may still be far from committing to action, and this is okay. Try to focus more on the solution (“I want to be able to sit to go out with friends”) than the problem (“It hurts to sit”).
Preparation
This is the exciting part—you’re almost ready to make some changes!
Try this: Tell someone about your intention to make a change, a friend, family member, accountability partner, someone – anyone. This will help you avoid any last-minute ambivalence about your plans and help you establish a network of support. Which we all need to change.
Action
This is a busy time of trying out new routines and discarding old habits. It can be a roller coaster, hand in there. Other people may even be noticing your progress.
Try this: Your aim now is to stay on track and keep focused on the positive results you’ve seen so far. Sometimes it helps to write down the progress and tuck it somewhere you can revisit it.
Maintenance & Relapse Prevention
You’ve already achieved your goal, but you want to stay on track to make sure you don’t have relapses or fall into old habits.
Try this: Keep on going: continuing to set goals and check-ins will keep you moving forward—and help you resist old behaviors. Watch to see if this behavior holds steady in times of stress or if you need to take steps to support it.
So, are you ready? Take your next step. Book with me.
Click the link below and take your next step
Consults – https://restoringvenus.com/consults/
Coaching – https://restoringvenus.com/coaching/
Group Coaching – Moving Beyond Pain
References
Prochaska, J.O., Prochaska, J. (2016). Changing to Thrive. Center City, MN: Hazelden Publishing.
Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C., Diclemente, C.C. (1994). Changing for Good. New York: Avon Books.
