Break Old Habits And Create A Long Lasting Healthy Lifestyle

February 14, 2022

As a general rule, having a habit can more often than not, be a good thing. Waking up on time for example, or even when you drive to work on time every day, you don’t have to think when you have to turn left or right. Your muscle memory takes over due to the force of habit. Even if you hit the gym regularly, that too is a habit. These are all pretty good habits, to say the least. Unfortunately, not all habits are like that. Smoking, for instance, is one habit that is not easy to curtail.

Apart from that, you might be in the habit of taking a lot of caffeine before you go to sleep. This means you go to sleep late and wake up early to go to work and therefore remain sleep-deprived for most of your workday. More often than not, bad habits are so ingrained in our minds that it is very difficult to get rid of them. While the process is difficult, it is by no means impossible. Let us check out a few ways to help eliminate your bad habits, once and for all.

• Swap a bad habit for a good one

Our minds work on the basis of audio-visual cues.  If you are fond of drinking at 5 pm every day, the mind will conjure up an image of a glass of red wine and go on doing it until you start drinking it. The same goes for smoking as well. If you decide ‘I will not smoke’ the mind will only hear ‘smoke’ and urge you to give in to your cravings. However, swapping your cravings into something better can create the desired effect. Instead of smoking, you can think along the lines of ‘I will chew nicotine gum’ today. This way, you will be able to divert your mind towards more productive activities. Similarly, you can keep your fridge well stocked with lemonade, water, and other drinks to keep your mind away from your daily glass of wine. In fact, you can make it a point of drinking lots of water every day at five to swap the wine habit for the water habit.

• Ask a friend to help out

Suppose you want to break the habit of being a couch potato and go out and get some fresh air and exercise. However, jogging or cycling on your own can be a bit of a chore. Left to your own devices, it is likely that you will quickly revert back to your old bad habits. But having a friend around would be a definite help. Your friends will see to it that you get off the couch and be literally up and running in no time at all. You will also be looking forward to their presence so that you will be able to enjoy the routine. Eventually, you will make an early evening or morning jog or cycling trip an integral part of your life, even if your friends are no longer around.

• Leave reminders to yourself

This is also a great way to break off a bad habit. You can write post-it notes on the fridge. This will be particularly helpful if you want to break off the bad habit of binge eating junk food all the time. Your notes will tell you that it’s time to stop the practice and eat something healthy such as nuts, fresh fruit, and vegetables. Once these items become an integral part of your life, you will no longer need to post notes to yourself.

• Consider attending a retreat

Another great way to eliminate bad habits and cleanse your heart, mind, and soul is to start attending retreats. Retreats will offer you some time to rethink your life choices and reflect upon your existing lifestyle. For example, the Iboga retreat is one of these options. As a matter of fact, attending the Iboga Retreat Program will go a long way in helping you get rid of any and all of your bad habits, since it will allow you to look deep upon yourself and reconnect again with your body and mind.

• Conclusion

It is possible to get rid of a bad habit by replacing it with a good one. You can also enlist the help of a friend to ensure that you don’t fall back into your bad habits. Finally, you can also join an Iboga retreat to help you create a long-lasting and healthy lifestyle.