Flourishing Life Society
  • Flourishing Life Society
    • Addiction Recovery
    • Books to Flourish
    • Human Flourishing
    • Mindfulness Archive
    • Personal Development >
      • Personal Development Archive
    • Non-Profit Donation Links
  • Psychology of Wellness
    • Basic Emotions >
      • Emotional Data Base
      • Emotional Fitness
    • Psychology Article Archive
  • Flourishing Relationships
    • Intimate Relationship Articles >
      • Repair Attempts
    • Society and Others Archive >
      • Politics Archive
  • Health and Fitness
  • About Us
  • Link Page
Flourishing Life | Personal Development | Change Article Archive | Creating a New Life

Creating a New Life

We can rewrite our story

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | January  14, 2019 (edited January 2, 2022)
An old fashion typewriter with words on paper
Adobe Stock Images
The first steps into a new life are arduous, full of challenge and discouragement. Keep going; it gets easier.
Tomorrow is a new day—a clean slate. A quaint idea, erasing culpability for yesterday. While tomorrow will be weighted with the poor decision of the past, it can be a new beginning.  A new day where we can make better choices.
"To live without Hope is to Cease to live."
Fyodor Dostoevsky

We have the Power to Change

​We can change the trajectory of our life. We are challenged to accept the present with the marks and bruises from yesterday. Our experience today adds wisdom to face tomorrow; each day we have more exposure to life. We make choices tomorrow with a wider foundation than the day before. Each day’s actions expands and contract choices available later.

​The present is precious. Yesterday still exists regardless of new commitments. Someone who persistently spends twenty-years planning for retirement has more opportunities at sixty than someone who newly begins planning for retirement at age fifty, squandering resources for several decades.
SAMHSA's National Helpline 1-800-662-4357

We Must Maintain Hope

Don't give up. Don't accept your current lot in life. We must hope there is more out there. We can no longer squander our opportunities. If we have no hope, we have nothing. Life isn't fair, agreed; but we can escape some of the unfairness, bringing more to game than others. We can surmount the challenges.
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all."
Emily Dickinson

Changing Trajectories

Changing a trajectory takes work. Life follows the momentum—power not easily redirected. We can’t erase a history of wrongs with a few rights. We will continue to experience residual effects from the past; but as we move forward, change begins. New choices shape the future. New opportunities arise. New habits form. New trajectories take hold and life is new.
Picture
​There is a point in the courageous journey of change—the tipping point; the accumulation of new choices eventually out-weighs the past. Changes begin to gain traction and a new live emerges from the rubble. Many give up before the tipping point. The fight is too much, slipping back to old routines and familiar consequences.

​See Tipping Point for more on this topic

 
Courage! Patience! Persistence! You can make it, and it’s worth it.


*Article written in loving admiration for my son's courageous fight against heroin addiction and for all those engage in similar battles.
Please support Flourishing Life Society with a social media share or by visiting a link:
Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email
T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

Index:

Flourishing in Life
  • Personal Development
  • Addiction Recovery
  • Wellness 
Psychology of Wellness
  • Emotions​
  • Personality
  • Defense Mechanisms
Flourishing Relationships
  • Intimate
  • Parent/Child
  • Society
Health and Fitness
Key Word Archives
Research
About Flourishing Life
External Links:
External Link: Two Strange Questions That Might Change How You Live Life
External Link: Opioid relapse is more likely when risks seem OK
External Link: It’s better to focus on where you are going than how you are feeling
External Link: Hobbies Can Improve Our Mental Health
External Link: Coping: When Darkness Captivates your Soul: 5 Ways to Release yourself from Depression.
External Link: Five Ways to Stay Motivated On Your Journey to Success
External Link: We shouldn't use alcohol to blot out reality

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

FLS Link. Fredrickson's Broaden and Build: Positive emotions promote growth by encouraging approach and observation.
Internal Link: Life is difficult- Working through the emotions of living, seizing opportunities, and keeping expectations grounded.
We widen our vision by integrating the fate of circumstances with the empowerment of choice.
A Flourishing Life Society article link. Fear of Failure
A healthy mind integrates values with action. We embrace high-ideals, and then act like an idiot, soothing the dissonance with justifications.
When we expect uninterrupted joy, life intrudes and we feel depressed. Life is beautiful; but not always.
Trying to feel better is a formidable challenge for many. The well-being industry has many theories. Success requires finding proven paths and patiently working towards a better life.
Picture Link: Venturing into the Unknown-- Carefully moving forward in a complex world.
Behavior Activation. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Flourishing Life Society article link. Building Resilience
FLS link. Self-Sabotage: We hurt ourselves. We sabotage healthy endeavors to escape the discomfort of change, settling back into our self-made prisons of stagnation.
Picture
FLS Link. Contemplating Change: The contemplation stage of change is more than what we think, it is how we think, expanding our view, dismantling excuses, and building motivations.
We don't magically transform. The process of change is often slow and methodical. Slow down, watch yourselves, and let small choices create major changes.
link: Life Lessons
FLS Link. The Experience Machine: In 1974, Robert Nozick posed a question. Would you plug into an experience machine that provided all the feelings of desired experience without the struggles of reality?

Flourishing Life Society Article Collections:

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
FLS Link: Creating a New Life.
Picture
Flourishing Life Society
  • Human Flourishing
  • Psychology of Wellness
  • Flourishing Relationships
  • Psychology Definitions​
​Other Links
  • About US
  • Companion Site​
  • Most Popular Articles
  • Psychology Topics A-z
Articles:
  • New Articles​
  • Last year's Publications​
​Favorites:
  • Self-Actualization
  • Emotional Safety
  • Alexithymia
  • ​Emotional Detachment
  • Masochistic Personality
  • Reciprocal Deteminism ​
News Letter

    New Article Updates

Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Flourishing Life Society
    • Addiction Recovery
    • Books to Flourish
    • Human Flourishing
    • Mindfulness Archive
    • Personal Development >
      • Personal Development Archive
    • Non-Profit Donation Links
  • Psychology of Wellness
    • Basic Emotions >
      • Emotional Data Base
      • Emotional Fitness
    • Psychology Article Archive
  • Flourishing Relationships
    • Intimate Relationship Articles >
      • Repair Attempts
    • Society and Others Archive >
      • Politics Archive
  • Health and Fitness
  • About Us
  • Link Page