Have you ever tried to explain how you feel to someone? Your words, body language, and emotions convey your feelings, but it’s hard to translate your experience to someone else because they haven’t had the same experience. That’s what it’s like when defining progress with a mental health disorder. Your progress is not someone else’s.
What Is Progress?
The dictionary defines progress as an advancement or forward movement towards a goal. What is progress? Progress is subjective. People can heatedly discuss what they think progress looks like. For some, progress is a state of utopia or an ideal state in their life. Others consider progress in learning how to reduce dangers or missed opportunities.
Take a mental inventory and decide what you think progress is. What does it look like? Once you can define your idea of advancement, you can begin to set goals that reflect what breakthroughs look like for you.
Why Is My Progress Different?
Be kind to yourself when you consider progress in mental health treatment. Say, for instance, you are in group therapy, and someone has similar experiences. You may become disheartened because you think they’re further along in their healing process than you. Yet, you don’t know everything about them. Maybe they have a history of therapy that guided them to where they are. Their environment, personality, and mind-body connection also are factors in how they respond to treatment. Also, you didn’t see the struggle that led them to where they are now.
Consider where you are now before comparing your growth to someone else’s. For example, did you make it out of bed? Some days getting up is progress. On other days, completing a task or learning something new is an advancement. Your life ebbs and flows, as does your evolution.
Am I in a Competition to Reach a Goal?
Personal progress is not a competition. There’s a saying that the only competition you have is yourself. Try to incorporate this into your daily mantra. For example, the decision to begin therapy for a mental health or substance use disorder is progress. The choices you make to improve yourself are movements towards the life you envision.
Competition isn’t always a negative. When you compete against yourself, you are in the role to build, not destroy yourself. A turn of a phrase can make all the difference. Instead of telling yourself, “I can’t,” ask yourself, “What if I can?” Don’t be afraid to compete against what you have achieved because when you tell yourself you can, you build your self-esteem, and that’s progress.
How do you define progress? You can move forward with progress when you begin to love yourself. Your goals are what you can use to measure your progress. The Guest House encourages you to define progress by who you are and the healthy decisions you make. We know mental health therapy is, at times, challenging. That’s why we offer comprehensive care that guides you to finding what progress means to you. Take the time necessary to reconnect your mind, body, and spirit. Find out more about our luxurious estate near Ocala, Florida, by calling (855) 483-7800.