Why Do I Keep Going Back to the Same Unhealthy Patterns?

September 10, 2025•1 min read

Self-gaslighting is a form of self-protection. Except when it’s not. You need to repossess your life from the inner voices and expand your choices. Choices about what? Choices about how you relate to yourself. Changing this is the way to steer yourself towards healthier and healthier patterns.

Start small:

Recognize the signs from last week's blog--just notice them without acting
Instead of “A-F” or “pass-fail” perspectives, install “now or not yet” as the way you judge yourself. All that failing takes away your will.
Count and make note of every success and learn from every effort.

Change feels awkward at first. Be kind to yourself as you practice. The goal isn't perfection—it's expanding your power to choose how you treat yourself.

This “now” and “not yet” stuff? You don’t have anything left to lose if you’re failing. If it’s not yet, it’s more trials to success, the practice of an elite athlete.

the trauma informed academyelizabeth powertraumaresiliencechangetr-equnhealthy pattersrepetitive actions

Elizabeth Power

Elizabeth Power, M. Ed., CEO of EPower & Associates, Inc. , is a sought-after speaker, facilitator, and consultant. EPower & Associates is the parent organization for The Trauma Informed Academy(r). "All we do is help people with change, resilience and self-care, and learning to live trauma responsively. And everything is done from the trauma-informed perspective," she says. "Even courses directly about working with trauma are about change."

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