When Part of You Wants Change… and Part of You Doesn’t

Have you ever been hesitant for this time of year, knowing that many people are going to be talking about their own resolutions and possibly asking about yours? And being unsure what to say because you're not even sure you want to create a resolution? It's like part of you wants to because it seems better than doing nothing but the other part of you wishes there was another option. I've been there too.

Ambivalence, the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone as defined by Oxford Languages, sometimes gets a bad rap. However, what if you thought about ambivalence as a message from your body, the body that has carried you through so many experiences already. What if ambivalence is telling you that your body is tired? What if it's a signal to help you re-connect to your values instead, to figure out what you want to do more of and also what you want to do less of? What if ambivalence is your body's way of offering some protection to you from leaning in to something that might no longer suits you?

If you can move deeper into attuning to the signs that your body is giving you, that release when you're into an activity that is lightening a load or offsetting some energy or that tension when you are pushing through an activity that feels more obligatory than restorative, that's where the magic happens. That is when you can really begin to get in touch with the good stuff.

Therapy can offer support in doing this, in helping you become a good listener to the signals that your body is already offering you and help you think about what you want to do about these signals and in those moments are when growth really happens.