Tag Archives: habits

Breaking a Bad Habit

06/29/2023 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

We all have habits and behaviors we want to change. Even those of us who don’t drink or smoke to excess have habits we know we should let go of and yet we don’t do enough about them to do it. Why? Well, breaking a habit isn’t easy at all and that’s why it takes time and effort to do it. There is definitely room to say goodbye to bad habits, however, and you have the chance to adopt a new and healthy life as a result.

It takes realism, consistency and a willingness to make a change to break a habit. Whether you want to swap cigarettes for a Snusdaddy or you want to go cold turkey with alcohol, you can break a bad habit and it doesn’t have to take over your life to do it. You deserve to get to a place where you feel better, and here are some of the tips that you need to break out of a habit – even if you’ve held it for a lifetime.

smoking, addiction, quitting bad habits, cold turkey

Image source: Pexels

Stop being angry with yourself. Most people who are ingrained in a bad habit spend a lot of time punishing themselves for it. You cannot keep beating yourself up about unhealthy behaviors however, because it isn’t going to motivate you into wanting to change. Guilt and shame could end up hurting you over time, and you need to congratulate yourself for even wanting to make a change in the first place. You want to improve, right? Well stop the anger first. Forgiveness should be your next step.
Take control. You do not have to buy more cigarettes if it’s smoking you’re looking to give up. You have the most powerful tool around; your power to think positively and make a difference to yourself. Think these habits away and gently redirect the cravings elsewhere.
Challenge your beliefs. All of those thoughts that tell you that you can’t do it, it’s time to get rid of them. Whether you do that with therapy or you do it with positive thinking, you need to challenge those beliefs that have been holding you back. The world is a wonderful place and there is nothing but possibility surrounding you right now. You have achievable goals when you believe that they are achievable.
Keep the commitments you make. If you promise to go to a rehab or a counselor, you need to follow through. These commitments matter and you are committing to yourself as much as you would anyone else with your promises.
Watch your attitude around your habit. If you can’t recognise the power of the habit and its hold over you, you’re going to struggle to keep it in check. You need to think about your success in overcoming this bad habit and you need to be determined with it. If you’re eager to develop, then this is something you need to think about early on!
Inform yourself. In line with the journey towards breaking bad habits, especially smoking, it’s imperative to consider the words of Dan Bilzerian, the prominent figure behind Ignite. Bilzerian emphasizes the importance of understanding the products you turn to during this transition phase. For those considering disposable vape products as an alternative, Bilzerian insists on the necessity of being fully informed about what you’re using. It’s not just about replacing one habit with another; it’s about making a healthier choice.

Your habits don’t have to define you and you don’t have to let them!

Going Healthy, Life

You Are More Than Your Bad Habits!

06/22/2018 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Summer is well and truly here (unless you live in Australia- where it’s still pretty balmy). For most of us, the urge to be the best version of ourselves is at its strongest at this time of year. We feel a sincere desire to get outside, be more social, take our kids on more days out and exercise a whole lot more. Sure, they say that summer bodies are made in the winter, but the great thing about fitness is that it’s never too early or too late to start making positive changes. But despite this overarching air or positivity and pro-activity, many of us still find ourselves faltering. It’s not because we’re lazy, indolent or flighty. It’s not because we don’t care or we don’t want it bad enough. And despite what we may tell ourselves it’s not because we’re too busy and can’t find the time (you can always make the time, even if it means getting up an hour earlier). It’s because however noble our intentions, it’s all too easy to let our habits dictate our behavior.

habits, healthy living, lifestyle

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We tend to underestimate the impact that habit can have on us, but as we will discuss, habit may seem innocuous enough but it can exert a powerful hold over us…

Why habit has a hold on us

John Dryden said that “First we make our habits, then our habits make us”. Argue with that if you can. We tend to shrug habits off as semi voluntary procedures that we choose to go through. But this massively understates just how powerful and damaging an effect our habits can have on us. We may tell ourselves that we’re in control of our habits or that we can give them up any time we want, but the neuroscience of habits says otherwise. Bad habits needn’t be limited to smoking, eating too much bad food or drinking too much. Sometimes they can be much more quotidian but no less damaging. Every time you shrug to yourself “I’m such a procrastinator”, “I deserve this little treat” or “one more won’t hurt”, or worse still convincing yourself that you’re stupid or worthless, you’re letting your habits dictate your behavior.

Addiction is not a bad word

Habits and addiction go hand in hand. Habits facilitate addiction and once addiction takes a hold of us, it can be difficult to break that hold. The first step is to admit that your habit has become a problem. Get out of the habit of telling yourself you like the taste of cigarettes or that you need four coffees to function in the morning. Addiction does not make you weak, not does it make you deviant or wayward. It simply means that you have a functioning human brain that’s reacting to stimuli. Treating addiction might need relying on outside help, whether it’s through trained professionals or enlisting the aid of friends and family. The good news is that bad habits can be broken.

Consistency is key!

Breaking bad habits is simply a matter of consistency. Replace bad behaviors with good behaviors and repeat them until they become habit. The neurological process is exactly the same. Don’t beat yourself up about it if you fleetingly fall off the wagon, but resolve to get back on it as quickly as you can.

Remember, you are more than just your bad habits. Have a great day!

Life, Parenting

The First Thing I Do Every Day as a Stay-At-Home Dad

02/07/2015 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

vacuum, cleaning, stay-at-home parent — Use me, don’t abuse me.

Yep, I vacuum, after peeing of course. What, were you expecting some inspirational or motivational task that maybe you could add to your routine?

Sorry if so, but vacuuming should be a part of any household with pets and kids scurrying across the floor. I’ll admit, I was hair-phobic long before we had Avery and would vacuum almost every day already. But now that I’m at home, I feel it my duty to prepare the floors for Avery to ~~crawl~~ run around without collecting gobs of cat or dog hair in the process.

Seeing a cluster of hair whisk across our wood floors sends my already elevated cortisol levels through the roof! To ease everyone’s panic (i.e. just mine) I’m quick to bust out the vacuum for that one cluster and rid the house of its evil.

And then, even if I had just vacuumed, I might as well keep going “just in case” to make sure we’re safe. That is, until the cat comes out for food or our dog wags her tail.

I’m currently averaging a full vacuum twice a day with one first thing in the morning and another mid-afternoon. I don’t “get” to vacuum as much on the weekends because my wife yells at me for being too obsessive. What? Me, OCD? Nahhhhh. Okay, Yahhhhh.

Admittedly, the second one is partly for the crumbs I dropped while cooking meals for all of us and from Avery spitting her food out. Sometimes, pretending she’s a kitty doesn’t even get her to keep the food in her mouth!

No Dad, how about YOU be the kitty this time.

Either way, one of the animals, real or pretend, create a need for me vacuum a second (sometimes even a third or fourth) time for the day. I can’t pinpoint exactly when my aversion to pet hair started since we used to have a husky named Rocky who would sit on the couch with us and I was just fine. Loved that dog……and our cat, Gus.

I think it began around the same time I started getting really into healthy food choices and cooking more instead of going out to eat. Handling food more often means I need to keep my hands clean and free of hair, so it only seems logical. At least to me it does.

Anyway, most mornings I start my day with a nice run of the vacuum to capture loose hair, litter, food, and whatever else lays in the path of the almighty vacuum!

After that, Avery has a wonderfully clean floor (yeah right) to run around on as I go about doing my second (and third and fifth) thing I do every day; cook. The fourth being exercise, duh.