It's all in how you look at it - does change mean that this is the beginning, or the end?!

Life has some intriguing lessons for each of us to master. If we do not learn our lessons the first few times that they present in our life, it appears to be a consistent pattern for many people that they come around again and again, just in harder, more confronting doses.

Eventually at certain points in life we hit a crossroads where we find that our old patterns and ways of doing things are no longer working at all. We have hit a rut in our life path.

If we ignore the signs and push through the difficulties and frustrations, then for a little while we will often regain traction through sheer strength of will (often an admirable quality as long as it does not manifest as stubbornness and denial).

Your Mental Health can Impact Your Physical Health

However if we do not at the same time address the underlying sources of the obstacles and stresses in our life, by learning to adapt, reframe and see things with a fresh perspective – eventually our mind and body can pay a very high price.

One client I assisted this year, who has spent a lifetime of kind-heartedly putting other people’s needs ahead of her own, had frequently experienced a personal crossroads or "tipping point" where she felt emotionally drained to the point of exhaustion. Time and again she forced herself to override these feelings and persevere to be of service to other people.

Now, some cumulative years later, the immense unrelenting levels of work and family stressors this generous everyday working mum has endured, have led to serious physical health breakdown and perhaps even the potentially irreversible loss of sight in one eye (due to a stress related ulcer)!

If you identify with this article, and realise that you have been frequently experiencing crossroads or "tipping point" episodes in your life, please see this as a beginning point of new life change.

Consider making an appointment at our Gold Coast psychologist clinic, to learn more about how to wisely let go: in a spirit of accepting matters that you do not have the capacity to change, and allowing the sometimes fearful ending of one pattern in your life to instead represent the beginning of many new possibilities for positive growth.