Everyone has some kind of habit, and most of us will have more than one. Some are good; attending a gym class or going for a walk every day after dinner, for example. Unfortunately, some habits are bad for us, and these are the ones that are usually the most difficult to quit, despite the fact that we know that we need to. Smoking, eating junk food, drinking too much alcohol, and taking drugs are all habits that are terribly bad for our physical and mental health. Although these habits are hard to quit, they aren’t impossible to remove from your life, and here are four ways to do it.
1. Know About It
The best way to start removing a bad habit from your life is to become more aware of it. A habit is often something you do without even realizing, so you need to start understanding when you do it, and why. This could be hard work, especially if the habit is something you have been doing for many years, but it needs to be done, and you must be what is known as ‘hyper-aware’ of the habit itself. Whatever it is, from smoking, to nail biting, to tapping away at your smartphone, or anything else at all, you need to know when you are doing it so that you can work out why you are doing it and remove the triggers from your life as far as possible. Once you make yourself aware of your habit, you can stop it because you are looking out for it.
2. Set Goals
Goals are a massively important part of quitting any bad habit. Simply stopping and going ‘cold turkey’ can be damaging physically (especially when it comes to drugs and alcohol), but as well as that, it actually makes things much harder. Stopping altogether will increase cravings and make you much more likely not only to go back to the habit again but to binge when you do, making the situation much worse. It is far better to start slowly and quit a little at a time. To do this, you can set goals for yourself as you go along and follow recommendations from rehabilitation facilities like Rehab in Maryland. Each time you reach a goal, you can reward yourself knowing that you are just that bit closer to quitting completely.
3. Treatment Centers
For those habits that are genuinely ingrained and that are doing a massive amount of damage in your life, addiction treatment center might be your best option. See here, and you’ll discover just what you can achieve when you visit one. You’ll get all the help you need to quit your dangerous habit, and you’ll emerge fresh and healthy, ready to face the world without whatever crutch it was you were using before.
4. Say Your Excuses Out Loud
Excuses are the things we tell ourselves when we are trying to quit something that is bad for us, and we’re finding it difficult. It could be that we say we’ll start quitting tomorrow, or that one more won’t hurt. It could be that you’ll wait until after Thanksgiving, until after Christmas, until the new year, or beyond. When you think these excuses, they will sound as though they make sense, but speak them out loud to someone else, and you’ll soon see whether they are legitimate reasons to put of starting to quit or not. In most cases, they won’t be!
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