Do you feel this describes you? That you always end up relapsing in your attempts to ‘improve’? Well of course! Why are you surprised that some habit that is entrenched simply retreats gracefully? Not gonna happen. But we all feel this way and then are surprised when that which we are trying to change doesn’t docilely agree. The point is to not allow the relapse to control. When you are trying to be a better you, don’t give up on you!
“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38)
Oh yes. Temptation comes, but We are the ones who have the power as to how and if we will succumb to the temptation. Certainly, we can be blindsided but then what? Do we continue in the relapse or pick ourselves up to try again? Let’s face it… temptation is on all sides, especially when you are trying to overcome (fill in the blank). No long held ‘habit’ is going to give up without a fight! But who’s in control? Simply because you relapsed doesn’t mean you have to continue in the self-defeating behaviors and thoughts.
I also believe that we all need others to support us, to be accountable to, we have not been made to go it alone. But we have to be willing to share, to reach out to others to come along side of us. And this is never easy. When we are trying to improve, to grow we don’t always like to share the less than perfect parts of us, so reaching out to someone else to stand with us in our battle is admitting our less than perfect self. But your willingness to acknowledge and then work to improve can have a domino effect in that it can be a witness to others that they can do the same.
We are all in process… We aren’t where we can be, become. I believe it’s expected that we will always face temptations and relapses when we are fighting our battle to improve, and that really is what we’re doing – fighting, to become a better you/me. The longer the habit has been in existence, the longer the battle. BUT the greater the victory. If you don’t give up on you, you will come through a stronger you.
