While on an adventure the other day, my friend poutily announced that she had broken a nail. “This is going to bug me all day,” she said. But then she said “You know, I used to have a bad habit of biting my nails, but I haven’t been able to since I got braces…and I’ve realized how gross it is. I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.”
My friend was forced into breaking a bad habit and it didn’t take long for her to decide that, despite its inconveniences (like not being able to ‘fix’ a nail on the go) she was better off.
image from acurlygirlworld.blogspot.com
So I’ve been thinking about bad habits, big and small, and what it does to us when we break them – even if we eventually do it again. We tend to do so many things that aren’t great for us but feel like we can’t stop. Almost every emotion that goes along with a bad habit is negative – vs when we do something nice for ourselves (even the smallest thing) we feel invigorated, in control, and generally optimistic about our futures. Funny, right?
So my challenge this week is to pick a bad habit to break, just to see that you can do it. You may not be able to swear it off for life, but I can promise it will make you feel better and that’s usually motivation to keep going.
I’m going to go to bed on time – not two hours later than I want to. My problem is that no matter what time I go to sleep I always wake up at the same time. So my recent night owl habit has me growling in the morning and makes for less productive, more cranky days. Until bedtime, of course. That’s when I suddenly snap out of it and want to play. Not the best routine. So last night, in preparation for my post, I tucked in at my chosen time and today I’m feeling like maybe, just maybe, I can get a handle on this in a few days.
So what’s your bad habit?
