I called this topic stepping stones because I have learned over the years that it can take decades, but eventually every challenge leads to growth, including challenges that originally seem like they are only leading to failure.
I had a setback two days ago for the first time since I started my journey. It happened on day 90 which means that I had a beautiful 89 days of healthy success for the first time in my life. I was discouraged for a day and a half but I am starting to feel very positive again. I had one slip in the first week or two of my journey and now the first setback. Chazal say that the Yetzer Horah renews himself on a person every day. I realized that my slip and setback came about when the Yetzer Horah came from an unexpected angle of challenge that I didn't experience previously. In other words, I haven't actually lost ground in my success, however I have to be more prepared for unexpected situations. I generally don't have urges and it is safe for me to practice mindfulness tools when everything is going well. I am thinking of practicing tools like Urge Surfing and SOBER here and there so that hopefully when a new challenge appears I will automatically switch gears to these tools.