6 Ways to Break a Bad Habit

Whether you’re a chocaholic, a shopaholic, or you worry too much, there are things you can do to break your bad habits.

Do you have a bad habit or two? You might have even more. Nobody’s perfect, and we’ve all got bad habits we’d like to break because they have a negative effect on our health and wellbeing. Whether you’re a chocaholic, a shopaholic, you worry too much, have a tendency to over think things or something a little more serious, there are things you can do to break your bad habits. If you really want to that is. Here are some ideas you might want to try.

Talk to Your Loved Ones

You’re bound to have friends or relatives you can go to for support. There are people in your life that love and care about you so they’re going to want to do everything they can to help. Talk to them about your issue and ask if they can help you overcome your bad habits. 

Take up a New Hobby

It helps if you can replace your bad habit with something that’s much better for you. If you want to quit smoking, then find a habit that involves using your hands. Take up knitting, painting, or start doing word puzzles. You need to be able to take your mind off the habit you’re trying to break. 

Take a Trip

Sometimes, all that’s needed is to get away for a while and enjoy a change of scenery. Take a trip away for a few days or a couple of weeks. While you’re out of your normal environment work on breaking your habit and you’ll be able to work on it further when you get home. 

Get Help

There’s plenty of help in your local community if you need additional support. Look for groups in your area or see what’s available online. For the more serious habits, such as drug taking, you might also need to sort legal advice from a professional such as an organised crime solicitor. 

Understand the Triggers

If you can understand why you repeat your bad habits and what it is that is triggering your behavior you can try to avoid these situations. There tends to be five cues that trigger a bad habit. These are location, time, emotional state, other people and what happened before. Every time you repeat your bad habit make a note of these five things and you’ll be able to recognize the trigger. Once you know what is making you do something you can take the necessary steps to solve it. 

Take Small Steps

Your bad habits haven’t suddenly happened over night. They’ve taken time to become part of your everyday life so it makes sense that it will take time to change them. It could, in fact, take even longer. Rather than trying to make dramatic adjustments be patient with yourself and focus on one small thing at a time. If chocolate or sweet things are your problem, then rather than cutting them out altogether reduce your intact a little at a time.

We’ve all got things about ourselves that we’d like to change. Recognizing your bad habits is the first and most important step to take. Once you’ve done that you can work on changing them for the better.