The Practice of Realignment, or, Getting Unstuck - Staying on Track in Grad School Series

In this session, we present a process for you to use to realign quickly and gracefully when you have found yourself off track or feeling misaligned from your goals.  In the prior sessions we have discussed building practices to increase self-awareness, get organized, find motivation and take consistent action, but even with all this in place, life will throw you curveballs that make you feel disoriented, off track, or even stuck.  Progress is not linear.  We hope that the strategies we share will help you to shift your mindset and behaviour to quickly realign when you find yourself slipping into old habits, and to gracefully pivot when life throws you a curveball and you find yourself unable to maintain your routine, whether that be for your academic work, self-care, or whatever goal you are working on.

In this session you will:
•    Understand what misalignment and realignment is
•    Reflect on your experience of getting off track, stuck, or “hooked”
•    Learn steps to take to help you get back on track
•    Learn strategies to “unhook” through managing your thoughts, emotions and behaviours
•    Consider the importance of recovery and self-discipline for realignment
•    Understand that recommitment is a daily practice
•    Consider recruiting a support team and learn about resources

This session is part of the Staying on Track Series: A 3-part framework to make change stick for good.
We are living at a time when there is no shortage of information at your fingertips for how you could be taking better care of yourself or working towards your goals. But the problem with behaviour change is rarely a case of not knowing what to do. The real challenge many of us face is doing the things that would improve our well-being or progress towards our goal with realistic planning, strategies that work, and consistency. In other words, there is a gap between knowing and doing. 

In this series you will learn a few key skills sets that, when applied, will help you take better care of yourself and work towards your goals with greater consistency and ease.  Although the sessions work together, they can be attended independently.  Please come prepared to discuss these topics with other students (breakout rooms may be used), and engage in personal reflection. You may wish to have paper and a pen ready for these reflections. Sessions will not be recorded. Attendees will be sent slides and resources following the session.

Past topics:
•    May 31: Organizational habits and keys to consistency
•    June 7: Waiting for motivation?  Do this instead!

Facilitators

Karen Flood, PhD (she/her), is a Registered Psychologist with UBC Counselling Services. In her role, she provides brief individual counselling, facilitates therapeutic and support groups, and encourages all to access Therapist Assistance Online (TAO). She is an alumna of UBC’s Faculty of Education, Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education.

Lisa Gray, MC (she/her), is a Pre-doctoral Intern with UBC Counselling and a PhD Candidate in counselling at U of A.  Lisa is Canadian Certified Counsellor and a Registered Provisional Psychologist in Alberta.