#11 Progress isn't linear

Here is one perception which a lot of us have engrained and it sabotages our lives: the perception that progress is linear. This means that consciously or not, we see progress like a straight road, which goes directly and smoothly to our destination.

If we want to truly embrace progress and have fun with it, we need to realize that progress is not linear. Progress is organic.

This mean that we may go through long periods with little progress, followed by periods of lighting fast progress, or periods when we regress, in order to create a context which allows even bigger progress than the previous one.

It’s really challenging when you find yourself in in this mental space. The pain you feel in the downfalls, it’s hard to sit with, especially when you’ve felt the joy of the wins. You feel like the wheels are falling off, you’re exhausted from fighting that voice in your head, and the last thing you want to do is re-commit yourself to doing “the work”. But “the work”, that’s where the magic happens.

My perspective on progress has slowly changed over the years. I think the low points and perceived losses are just as much a part of the “progress” as anything. The empowering wins happen because of our resilience in these moments of pain. The work it takes to pick yourself up and push through whatever challenge you’re facing, it sets the stage for the big wins. Insights may come when things start clicking again. The next time you end up in that difficult place, you may find yourself making different choices and engaging in different behaviors. As long as there is some amount of change to what you’re doing, that’s progress. If there isn’t and if the cycle just keeps repeating and repeating, the progress comes in recognizing something needs to change. So while no one wants to experience the lows, I think the lows play quite an important role in that thing we call “progress”. By definition what is progress? It’s forward or onward movement toward a destination. In my mind I’m starting to recognize that downfalls and pitfalls of therapy are actually forward movement towards a final destination. It’s just when we’re in these moments it feels nothing like progress. The progress is there though. We do have OCD after all, so we should be pretty good at recognizing our feelings aren’t always facts.