• Fri. Apr 26th, 2024

North East Connected

Hopping Across The North East From Hub To Hub

Steps to Breaking a Bad Habit and Forming a New One

ByDave Stopher

Sep 2, 2020 #health

Bad habits often become hurdles in your life and prevent you from achieving your life goals. Not only that, but they are also responsible for your bad physical and mental health. So why do you continue doing them? Once you start thinking about this question, you will get lost in your thoughts.

So the major question that you should ask yourself is what you can do about them? The answer here is simple. Get rid of them! Replace them with good and healthy habits. Wondering how? Here are a few steps that can help you do that.

1.      Opt for an alternative

One of the best ways to get rid of your bad habit is to opt for a good one, which is exactly what you need. So firstly, you need to understand why you are doing what you are doing. For instance, if you are a drinker, replace your drinks with healthy shakes, Palo Azul tea, or simply water. If you have become a social media addict, then the underlying reason behind it is that you are bored!

Only bored people have that much time on their hands. So try to replace your boredom. Come up with different ways to stay busy during the day. Make a list of things in the morning that you can do when you have free time on your hand. Every time you are bored, take out the list, and perform a few tasks you have mentioned. This will help you stay busy and focused on your goal.

2.      Cut out triggers

There is a trigger behind every bad habit. If you are an addict, then stop going to the bar. Sub solution synthetic urine is not the answer. If you are overeating, replace junk food with healthy food in your home. If you are a workaholic, then remove all work-related stuff from your home. Try to cut out the triggers as much as possible to stay focused on your end goal. One slip, and you will go back to your old habit.

3.      Team Work

Letting go of a bad habit is often hard. When it comes to addicts, rehab centers are the best place for them because they can communicate with individuals going through the same thing. They are not alone anymore. So if you are trying to get rid of a bad habit and replace it with a good one, team up with one of your friends or family members.

If both of you have the same bad habit, then you can support one another throughout the process. But if you are the only one struggling, then your loved one can keep regular checks on you. This helps you feel accountable for your actions. Plus, you have someone to express your emotions and feel supported.

4.      Surround yourself with good people

If you plan to change your lifestyle from bad to good, you need to socialize with good people. Keeping yourself surrounded by good habits that you wish to incorporate in your lifestyle can help motivate you and keep you determined.

You can learn from them. You can ask them for help. You can watch their lifestyle and slowly adapt to it. Plus, it will also help you stay away from bad habits as none of them would be doing them with you. Gradually, your bad habits will turn into good ones.

5.      Visualize your success

Often, we wish to let go of our bad habits but don’t believe that we can achieve our goal. The best way is to keep yourself motivated by visualizing your success every day. When you wake up and before you go to bed, imagine yourself achieving your goal, and you will be rushed with a sense of happiness and motivation. This will help you believe and stay focused on your goal.

6.      You don’t need to become someone else.

Letting go of your bad habits and adopting new ones doesn’t mean that you need to completely change your personality and become someone else. It simply means that you need to return to the old you. Initially, all of us are good. Throughout life, we take on some bad habits that become hard to get rid of.

You already have those good habits inside of you. You just need to find them and bury away the bad ones. For instance, you don’t need to get healthy; you need to get to the old healthy you! Makes sense, right?

Takeaways

Letting go of your long-term bad habits isn’t a day job. You can’t simply think that okay, I am done with this habit, and now I need to take on a new one. Things don’t work like that. It takes time, effort, and a lot of motivation to change a bad habit. That is why they are called HABITS!

So give yourself the time that you need. Don’t over push yourself to the breaking point. In case you need help, get it from a loved one, or ask a professional to help you out. No one said that you have to do it all. Plus, there are no embarrassing health questions. They are all simple questions. So ask right away. We are all here to help you break bad habits easily into good and become a better person.

Related Post