Feel the pain

There is a time and a place for medicine. 

If someone has a disease their body cannot deal with on its own, like strep, or a fundamental imbalance that can be measured in their blood, I understand that medicine has a place in their life.

But I believe we do people a disservice if we let them believe everything can be solved by popping some kind of pill.

Behavior modification is never easy, but it works faster if I actually know what I am doing and do it consciously.

That probably means a relatively long time, lots of pain and the need for as much support as I can get.

The support has to be realistic, honest, and if it can be constant too, my chances for success grow every day.  If it is only enabling, or a stop gap band aid, it can be the most destructive thing in my life. The last thing I need when I am struggling is someone reinforcing the very behaviors that got me to this place.

People who are hurting want to hear the easy things, the good things, the things that say, "I can make this easy for you." But those are not the truth.

Any kind of transition is difficult.  It takes more time to unlearn a behavior than it ever took to learn it and there is a reason for that.  There is comfort in the known even when it is killing you.

Be positive, be honest, be kind to yourself, but firm.  Do not allow anyone to enable you to keep doing the hurtful stuff. Those people are not your friends.

You can feel the pain and work through it, so that it goes away and then, if it does come back, you know where to go to heal again.