Hello, As the new year begins, I’ve been thinking about a pattern I see again and again—in recovery, in mental health, and in everyday life. We talk about wanting change, but many of us are really longing for relief. Relief from stress. Relief from old patterns that feel stubborn and familiar. Relief from the heaviness we’ve carried for so long that we forget we’re carrying it. Relief is human. It’s tender. It makes perfect sense.But relief and change are not the same, and when we blur the two, we set ourselves up for frustration. We expect transformation to appear simply because we feel ready for it, without acknowledging the part of the