Most people have more than one habit, but everyone has at least one. Some are good, like going to a gym class every day or taking a walk every night after dinner. Regrettably, some habits are terrible for us, and it’s usually the bad ones that are the hardest to break, even though we know we should. The worst things we can do for our mental and physical wellbeing are smoke, eat junk food, drink too much alcohol, and do drugs. It is possible to turn your life around and even get cheap term life insurance to protect your family. Even though it’s hard to break these bad habits, it’s not impossible, and here are some ways to do it.
Know About It
The best way to start getting rid of a bad habit is to pay more attention to it. Habits are usually things you do without even realizing it, so you need to figure out when and why you do them. This could be hard, especially if it’s a habit you’ve had for a long time, but you have to do it, and you have to be what’s called “hyper-aware” of the habit. No matter what it is, whether it’s smoking, biting your nails, tapping on your phone, or anything else, you need to know when you do it so you can figure out why you do it and get rid of the triggers as much as possible. Once you know about your habit, you can stop doing it because you will be on the lookout for it.
Set Goals
Setting goals is a huge part of giving up any bad habit. Stopping suddenly and going “cold turkey” can be bad for your body, especially when it comes to drugs and alcohol, and it also makes things much harder. Stopping completely will make your cravings worse and make you much more likely to not only start using again, but to binge when you do. This will make the problem much worse. It is much better to start gradually and give up a little at a time. You can do this by giving yourself goals as you go. You can give yourself a reward every time you reach a goal, knowing that you are that much closer to quitting for good.
Say Your Excuses Out Loud
Excuses are things we tell ourselves when it’s hard for us to stop doing something bad for us. We might say that we’ll stop tomorrow or that just one more won’t hurt. It’s possible you’ll wait until after Thanksgiving, Christmas, the new year, or even later. When you think about these reasons, they seem reasonable, but when you say them out loud to someone else, you’ll quickly find out if they are good reasons to put off quitting or not. Most of the time, they won’t be.
Treatment Centers
If you have habits that are really hard to break and are doing a lot of damage to your life, you might want to go to a treatment center. At a Beacon Insurance approved addiction treatment center, you’ll get all the help you need to quit your dangerous habit, and you’ll leave clean and healthy, ready to face the world without whatever crutch you were using before.
Focus On Why You Want To Change
Why do you want to change or stop doing something? According to research, it may be simpler to shift your behavior if the change you want to make is good for you. Take a few minutes to think about why you want to break the habit and what good things you think the change will bring. Putting these reasons down on paper might help you think of some you hadn’t thought of yet.
Write down your reasons on a piece of paper and put it on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, or somewhere else you’ll see it often. This will help keep you going. Seeing the list can help you remember the change you want to make. If you do start doing the harmful habit again, your list will help you remember why you want to keep trying to quit.
Prepare For Slipups
It can be hard to break a habit, but some habits might be easier to break than others. It’s easy to fall back into old habits, especially when the new ones haven’t yet become strong. It’s hard to change. It took you a long time to get into those habits, so you won’t be able to break them in one day.
Try to prepare your mind for mistakes so you won’t feel bad or give up if you make one. You might agree to write down three key points about how you felt while doing the habit, or you might do a quick deep breathing exercise.
Try to learn from the mistakes you make. Be truthful with yourself about what went wrong, and think about whether changing how you do things might help you get back on track.
