not sure if anyone’s said this yet, but for my fellow writers out there who want to create stuff like this, OP is right and there are technically 5 steps of change:
the person is still in denial and isn’t even considering changing their behavior yet
the person starts to understand why they should maybe change, but they’re still hesitant
the person has decided to change. they’re making plans to put their goal into action and have possibly made minor changes, but they have not stopped doing the unwanted thing
the person makes significant steps to change their behavior. they seek help, avoid triggers etc.
the person successfully changes their behavior for a period of time, though they mays till face struggles.
Aaaand the floating step which may or may not happen: Relapse
relapse can occur at any point in the process and might happen more than once. or not at all.
This applies to Any type of change! Addiction, diet issues/weight loss, and a variety of bad behavior habits. Of course, as a writer you can start the story at any step or take it as far as you want if step 1 doesn’t happen until after the story begins. People are pointing out that change isn’t linear and that is so true. As someone who’s currently watching a narcissist parent attempt to overcome addiction, I can totally agree. It’s back and forth, sideways, and in circles. Lots of circles ! In the world of fiction there are so many ways to explore any type of change in a character, and I’m always down to talk about it with anyone who wants/ needs to
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