worldexecutivesdigest.com | Tips For Success: How to Overcome Unhealthy Habits Once and For All | The human makeup consists of extensive physical, emotional, and behavioral aspects. Some are beneficial, while some can cause severe damage. We house a collection of good and bad habits. However, the key to a successful life is constantly suppressing the bad ones and uplifting the good ones. It might sound straightforward, but it certainly is not. It takes adequate cognitive and emotional labor to give up bad habits and replace them with good ones.
According to a survey by American Health Rankings, 72% of adults have at least one unhealthy habit. It intensifies with time and becomes difficult to give up. Fortunately, it is not impossible. With proper guidance and persistent efforts, almost anyone can give up these habits. However, it might take time because you have to develop such habits over a long period. Breaking out of that emotional and cognitive construct is not easy.
And healthy habits have a trickledown effect on life. They start to interfere with other domains of personal and social life as well. Initially, only you might be at a loss. However, it gradually grips the social circle attached to you, leading to severe impacts on society. This article will prove extremely helpful if you look forward to transforming your life and getting rid of such habits. It tells you five ways to overcome unhealthy habits once and for all.
Seek professional help
Dealing with emotions, long-held habits, and complex human nature sometimes becomes challenging. In such a scenario, expert assistance is always helpful. Especially if someone is having addiction problems, a professional’s intervention can lead to satisfactory results. Facilities like Delphi Behavioral Health Group are actively working to help people give up their addictions. They help people not just to give it up but also improve their lifestyle, so they don’t go back to it.
According to a survey, some 20 million Americans have some form of addiction. Surprisingly, hardly 10% receive any professional help. Therefore, it is saddening that drug overdose deaths have tripled since 1990. Dealing with human psychology is tricky, and an ordinary person might fail at it. Scholarly people who formally study it hold expertise in understanding and analyzing it. Unhealthy habits have a lot to do with human psychology. Therefore, professional guidance proves helpful in resolving such concerns.
Know your triggers
There are always external or internal stimuli that take you toward unhealthy habits. It is common for people to take up smoking after losing a loved one. Students primarily indulge in drugs as a result of academic pressure. People start ignoring their health and eating unhealthy food because of corporate stress. These all scenarios act as triggers to encourage and motivate unhealthy habits. Gradually, the mind becomes conditioned, and you firmly develop an unhealthy obsession.
Having a conscious understanding of these triggers can minimize the chances of catching these habits. Once you consciously know the situations that trigger negative emotions in you, you can control the reaction. You can develop a deeper understanding of the surroundings and react maturely. You should carefully check your daily routine and identify the loopholes. Tracking it for some days can show you those triggers. Once you take note of them, you can avoid them. It will naturally save you from going down the wrong path.
Be mindful
An empty mind is a breeding ground of Evil thoughts. It is always better to keep it busy with positivity than to leave it blank. Unhealthy habits make their way in between these gaps. If you keep your mind full of positivity, you don’t leave these gaps. Mindfulness is both a mental and physical technique. It enhances your awareness of the present. Absorbing the true essence of the present moment helps you cope with intrusive feelings and emotions. It is a simple yet potent practice.
According to Sane, a charity to help mentally disturbed people, psychological therapists have been using mindfulness since 1970. And this practice has existed for over 2500 years. It helps to anchor your mind in the present, so you don’t dwell on old painful memories. If your mind is not anchored in the present, stress certainly overwhelms it. That is where you fall prey to unhealthy habits. Therefore, something as simple as being mindful can act as a significant barrier against unhealthy habits.
Don’t fear the slipups
You were trying to give up junk food. You didn’t eat it for straight two weeks, but you had a moment of weakness and ate some on the 15th day. When you realize you cannot continue avoiding a bad habit, you completely abandon the pursuit of giving up. Afterward, you don’t even try to give it up. Well, this isn’t a positive approach. It would help if you did not fear the slipups. Leaving behind bad habits is not easy. You will have events of weaknesses, but they must not discourage you, and you should continue your war against unhealthy habits.
According to a survey by Live Lighter, 1 in 2 people do not perform physical exercises to maintain their health. Getting discouraged with minor slipups is the biggest reason to demotivate people. It is natural human psyche to exaggerate the negative aspect of something progressive. While trying to overcome unhealthy habits, we must look towards the positive side. It should be more motivating to you that you didn’t eat junk food for two weeks than just a slight moment of weakness when you ate it. This positivity will keep you motivated in your efforts.
Engage your social circle
Friends and family members are some of the most excellent sources of motivation and help. If you involve them in your targets to give up bad habits, you will always have positive reinforcement around you. They will act as a great source of social support. They can provide you with the necessary praise and acknowledgement for your positive efforts. It behaves as a great incentive to keep you focused in the right direction.
It also profiles a sense of accountability. You always know there are people you need to reply to, and it gradually becomes a collective goal of your entire social circle. The resultant synergy produces a solid drive to get rid of unhealthy habits. It also has a Domino effect on other members of your social circle. They take inspiration as well as a lesson from your efforts. It inhibits them from contracting such bad habits.
Final thoughts
There are always two sides to human nature. It requires deliberate efforts to make the positive one dominant. Likewise, there is much negativity in our surroundings to pull out the negative ones naturally. Therefore, you need to be wise in your approach and mindful of your emotional state. You have all the capacity to live a healthy life.
worldexecutivesdigest.com | Tips For Success: How to Overcome Unhealthy Habits Once and For All
