We all have a few bad habits we want to break, it might be drinking too many sugar-laden soft drinks, or it might be the habit of snoozing your alarm repeatedly and leaving yourself no time to get ready in the morning.
But are you aware that there are some habits that are more dangerous and impactful on our lives than simply hitting the snooze button? Well, some bad habits, also known as addictions will require more specialist care from a substance abuse treatment.
If you are asking how can you work towards breaking bad habits, we suggest you read on to understand and learn more.
Patterns
One of the most important things that we can do is begin to notice our own patterns. We build routines for our lives, and within those routines, we will have patterns.
As an example let’s say that you start each day with a coffee, and you end the day with wine. You can’t imagine getting to 10 pm without your glass of crisp white wine from the fridge.
Since it is just a glass, you might not think about it in terms of a bad habit or an addiction. Yet, it is. That is your pattern.
Let’s then say you want to break the habit and you remove the wine from the pattern, you remove that moment from your routine.
What is most likely to happen, is feeling a sense of loss and a need to fill the time. However, if you cut the amount you drink instead of removing the glass altogether, it won’t feel like a loss.
At the same time, you drink the wine and introduce a new ‘good’ habit. Over time keep reducing the amount of wine; drink a little more water instead. Until the glass of water replaces the wine.
The reduction can be the best method for cutting something out without the ‘cold turkey’ element.
Triggers
When we form habits, the idea of turning to junk food, smoking, alcohol, and other behaviors we don’t want can be triggered by certain feelings.
Stress, upset, difficulty, and challenging days often see people giving themselves a pass for things that they know are bad habits.
Some triggers and temptations can ruin our efforts to enjoy life without our bad habits encroaching on our lives.
Try to notice your triggers and temptations and begin to avoid them where possible.
It can be more complicated if the trigger is stress, but learning healthy coping habits will help minimize the likelihood of looking to your bad habits for support.
Deserve better
When it comes to bad habits, we can often start them when we aren’t feeling great – and then they stay with us. Part of the best way to combat them is to know that you deserve better.
You deserve good health, good sleep, not feeling out of control from substances and alcohol. It doesn’t just end there though, you deserve to have healthy coping mechanisms and a support system that helps you succeed.
Confidence, self-esteem, and knowing that you deserve the best often mean you make better decisions for your health and well-being.