There have been a few times in my life when I found myself standing at the edge of a cliff.  

One of my favorite times was when I visited the Grand Canyon while I was in college. It was breathtaking, but I'll admit that I was thankful for the railing. 

When I visited the Grand Canyon, I was able to hike down to the bottom. I didn't scale down a cliff, but instead took a meandering, all-day hike to a place called Phantom Ranch. 

Our lives can often mirror this same journey. 

There is rarely a time when we make one big decision to get us where we end up going. Instead, we often take baby steps down a path that can leave us wondering how we ended up there. Just as often, we look for the one “big decision” to change our life for the better. 

Unfortunately, we often don’t pay attention to the little things along the way that lead us down the path.  We can become so preoccupied with the “big” changes that we would like to see that we don’t realize all the little steps along the way.

For example: If someone is trying to quit smoking, they may make sweeping gestures of throwing out all the cigarettes in the house. They may even realize that smoking is something that they do in times of stress to help cope with their anxiety. They may even understand that they need to deal with their stress differently. 

But in order for lasting change to take effect, this person may need to make a lot of small changes to give them the space to pay attention to their own emotions. This may mean leaving time in their day to introspect rather than pressing play on the next episode of a show they are watching. It may mean turning the music off when they are driving to work. 

These steps may seem very small in the big picture, but ultimately we need to pay attention to them in order to get to the destination we would like to go. 

If you have a big change you are looking to make, you may not be able to do it all today.  Can you look for some small changes to move you in the direction you want to go?

Matt Krieg | MA, LPC