Looking for a fresh start in 2026?
Around this time of year, many people are thinking about the possibility of a fresh start to some aspect of their life. New Year’s resolutions are one way of bringing some focus to a goal, such as losing weight, drinking less, exercising more or stopping smoking.
Addiction vs the flow of life
The approach of a new year brings with it a sense of the rhythm of life. So many things have a flow to them: life, death and re-birth; the transition of the seasons; the shift of day turning to night, turning back to day; the motion of the tides towards and away from the shore; the constant rotation of the earth around its axis and around the sun. This rhythm promotes renewal, growth and balance.
We are familiar with this natural rhythm. Humans are part of it. And yet anyone caught up in the pattern of addiction is also aware of how addiction interrupts life’s flow. Addiction has its own circular design. It keeps people stuck in patterns and behaviours that feel destructive and lead to unwanted consequences. Over and over.
Return to the flow
Recovery, however, allows for the removal of barriers, the fulfilling of potential and a feeling of being carried forward in the flow of life.
It’s not surprising, then, that the commencement of a new year triggers thoughts of new beginnings. But how to start?
The reason why people tend to abandon their New Year’s resolutions is that their expectations are either inventions or unrealistic. Alternatively, recovery requires abandoning expectations and focusing instead on small actions to be taken in the present moment.
Recovery is a process and a journey. It’s not a task with a known outcome and an end point. There is no deadline to meet, no bar to set, no medal to win, no comparisons to make. Just a desire for change and progress.
One thing at a time, one day at a time
To experience long-lasting, deep change we only have to engage in doing today the next task directly in our path that we have the power to tackle. This is an idea rooted in ancient wisdom. In the 4th to 6th centuries BCE, in the Daodejing it is written that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. Breaking down goals into small, simple tasks to be executed in the here and now is a known, powerful strategy for making big things happen.
What can you do now?
In terms of therapy, that may look like picking up the phone to me and making a first appointment. Recovering from an addiction or an eating disorder in 2026 requires no further forward-thinking than that.
Just taking that one simple, positive action today is enough to move you one step closer to your recovery, and I look forward to hearing from you.