Changing bad habits

Changing bad habits isn’t always easy.  Why do some people find it easier than others and what triggers your unhealthy habits?

Unhealthy habits

We all have them – habits.  There are good habits like brushing our teeth, washing our hands, and practicing safe driving.

And, then there are the bad ones.  How many of these unhealthy habits examples do you have?

Unhealthy habits lists

1. Overeating
2. Drinking too much alcohol
3. Eating junk food
4. Swearing
5. Smoking (any form, including vaping)
6. Bad hygiene (or inconsistent hygiene)
7. Staying up late (i.e. to party, to get a project done that you’ve been procrastinating on, etc.)
8. Watching (a lot) of TV (i.e. binge watching)
9. Web surfing
10. Speeding

What triggers unhealthy habits?

There are a lot of triggers and we’re all different so there can be many reasons we start bad habits.  For some, it’s stress or an emotional trauma.  When we’re stressed or have gone through a traumatic event, we need to comfort or console ourselves just so we can continue with our lives.  Otherwise, we are frozen – nothing gets done and we’re stuck and can’t move on.

For others, it’s boredom.  When we don’t have anything exciting and feel as though we’re in a rut, we start habits that continue for too long.  Perhaps your bad habits only happen when you are around certain people.  For this reason, changing bad habits may mean you have to make some changes in your life.

Changing bad habits

The more unhealthy things we do, the more our lives will feel out of our control.  So, how to break bad habits?  If you want to stop bad habits, you need to evaluate what’s going on.  Without this step, you won’t get very far.  For example, if you have a habit of binge watching TV but you don’t look at why you may be doing this behavior, you’ll continue to do it.  Maybe you drink (alcohol) in excess – have you ever noticed that you do it on certain days or after you’ve interacted with someone that stresses you out?

How to break unhealthy habits

Once you evaluate your situation, you likely have some idea what your trigger is.  Whatever it is, you need to get away from that – maybe it’s a person (a negative friend), a situation (like a toxic work environment), or a thing (something that reminds you of a bad time in your life).  Keeping these people, situations or things around is dangerous.  It keeps us vulnerable to these unhealthy habits.

If you are hanging around people that cause problems, you’ll be less likely to think for yourself.  Be your own person.  Don’t get into the herd mentality – you can make your own decisions because you know what is right for YOU!  Know that others’ opinions are OK because it lets us see different views but in the end, you need to make your own decisions.  It’s good to learn from others.  Plus, this doesn’t help with our creativity and creativity is what brings us flow and joy in life.

When you spend your time with people that make you feel good about yourself, your mood is better and you feel better too (and most likely are healthier).  Be a role model and your own influencer.  By showing people that you are happy and actually doing it, you are helping other people indirectly because you’ll be a magnet for positivity, happiness, prosperity, and growth.  So, be careful who you spend your time with.  It can mean the difference between a long, happy life and one where you are miserable.

Feeling great / looking great

So, that’s how to quit bad habits!  Changing bad habits can be as hard as you make it.  The better you feel, the better you’ll look.  It’s amazing how much making some slight changes (i.e. removing people, places, or things) can affect our health and happiness.

Related:  Other habits to avoid.