The time it takes

Please don't despair if you find yourself having the same issues over and over. That is so normal. It's also normal for it to take a long time to get free:

A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it -- that alone can be like waking up from a dream.

-- David Steindl-Rast

The meditative process works by the saturation method. We need to have the same principles explained to us over and over. We need to coach ourselves on the same techniques over and over. That, too, is normal. After a while, our ability to work with our material gets more and more skillful. And, as a consequence, we experience more and more freedom.