Whether you’re going dry this July after a beer soaked Euros, looking to give up the smokes following a COVID scare, or you’re keen to cut down on the afternoon coffees after too many restless nights, know this; you don’t have to do this thing alone.
All across the nation, after an explosion of summer fun brought on by restrictions lifting, tired, hungover, broke Brits are pledging allegiance to abstinence and asceticism in the weeks ahead.
In the spirit of such promises, now feels like as good a time as any to tidy up any areas of your life that you feel are holding you back. Rather than all of that ‘new me’ stuff, how about the same old you – as beautiful and brilliant as ever – but crisper, cleaner and more focused? If that sounds like the ideal version of your fine self, then here are 6 ways to banish bad habits today and forever.
ACCEPT THAT THERE’S A PROBLEM
Here’s an apt phrase we’re pretty sure we just coined; ‘’to get clean, you first have to come clean’’.
Indeed, the first rule of bad habit club is; you do talk about your bad habits. Openly and without fear of judgment. Yep, acknowledging that you’ve got something which is hindering your life, and being honest with yourself and others about it, is the first step in getting help and sorting things out.
Whether it’s something seemingly innocuous like overdoing the Instagram to something more immediately, obviously unhealthy, like smoking excessively, you’ll only be able to tackle bad habits if you acknowledge their presence.
LOOK AT THE ROLE THAT YOUR ENVIRONMENT PLAYS
Most people are unaware that their direct environment influences both their negative behaviour patterns and how well they stick to new, more healthy habits.Your surroundings are everything. This explains why people can eat healthy, rounded meals at work, but as soon as they are at home, they hit the processed snacks rather than the fresh vegetables.
Such negative behaviours are usually associated with particular environments. Some people may not be big drinkers of alcohol during the week, when enjoying some domestic downtime, but once they hit a certain place, with certain people, they have no off-switch. This is just one example.
Changing your environment and routine is one of the most effective ways to break old habits and form new ones. So, if you find that your weekly Friday night trip to the pub results in you smoking, cut out that trip (or move it to a more responsible Monday) in order to cut out the cigs.
IDENTIFY TRIGGERS
As well as environmental influences leading to bad habits, so do certain triggers. Fortunately, in many cases, these triggers are often fairly easy to anticipate and amend.
Knowing your triggers will assist you in determining when you are likely to get pulled into a negative behaviour or bad habit that you’ve been trying to avoid. Should watching Great British Bake Off: The Professionals bring on an insatiable urge for macarons, for instance, then you know where that off switch is on the remote. Prevention is better than cure, as they say.
FOCUS ON THE WHY, NOT JUST THE HOW
If you do not have a compelling reason for wanting to break your old habits, you are unlikely to stick to your coping strategies. Do you want to live a longer, healthier life? Do you want to be a good role model for your children? Are you trying to save money for a holiday?
Keep in mind why that has a strong emotional resonance with you, making notes of ‘what if’ scenarios that the impact of resorting back to old habits will have on those positive outcomes. Doing so can help you clarify and focus on your goals.
SWAP OUT BAD HABITS FOR BETTER ONES
Replacing bad habits with good ones, or at the very least better ones, can help you break unhealthy patterns while creating new, healthy ones.
For some, the full-throttle change of daily indulgence to full on abstinence can be a shock too harsh to bear. Many choose to seek ‘healthier’ alternatives – say zero alcohol beer instead of the 5% stuff, low fat cream instead of full, or gum instead of cigarettes – as a way of gradually ‘tapering’ their bad habits and making things more manageable.
It should be noted that whilst the NHS suggest that ‘’Using an e-cigarette can help you manage your nicotine cravings’’ which could, in turn, help you give up altogether, the jury is still out on the efficacy of non-alcohol or low-alcohol beer in helping people cut down on their drinking.
Interestingly, the charity Alcohol Change report that ‘’research has shown alcohol-free beer can give you the sense of being drunk. This is why many people find it helps them unwind, and why people in recovery may decide to avoid it.’’
DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF
No one is perfect when it comes to breaking a bad habit and you will undoubtedly have days where you slip up. Do not beat yourself up if and when this happens- just draw a line underneath it and start again. Giving yourself a hard time can only make it worse and more likely to quit.