I found an article on Yahoo today: 20 Habits that make you fat ; and it got me thinking about habits in general. I looked up habit and often found it defined as a set of behaviors that are usually carried out unconsciously. Habits are not all bad; looking both ways before you cross the street, bathing regularly, shaking hands are all good, beneficial habits. The problem comes in when habits are bad; laziness, nail-biting, overeating...
Whether good or bad habits are hard to break. The problem is you can't really break a habit. You have to replace an old habit with a new habit, a bad habit with a good habit. My son and I recently had this discussion. He is in the habit of wrapping the leash around his hand when he is taking the dogs out. The problem with this is that he tells the dog to sit and stay, opens the door, steps out, the leash is so short that the dog then gets yanked out the door and gets fussed out for not staying! Grrrr... So, my son has to replace his old habit with a new one, not wrapping the leash around his hand. I need to replace my old, unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones!
I am making progress with replacing my bad habits. I was in the habit of drinking at least one bottle ( 32 oz water bottle) of tea a day. Now, instead I drink that 32 oz of actual water! I have cut down my tea intake to about 2 eight oz. cups a day at most. Also, I drink sweet tea, I'm from the South after all. Now though, instead of using 10 scoops of sugar I use only 5. I have cut my sugar in half! I am also getting into the habit of working out at least 4 days a week, a habit I hope to keep after I go back to work in a couple of weeks. Working out at Curves is much better than laying on the couch!
Whether good or bad habits are hard to break. The problem is you can't really break a habit. You have to replace an old habit with a new habit, a bad habit with a good habit. My son and I recently had this discussion. He is in the habit of wrapping the leash around his hand when he is taking the dogs out. The problem with this is that he tells the dog to sit and stay, opens the door, steps out, the leash is so short that the dog then gets yanked out the door and gets fussed out for not staying! Grrrr... So, my son has to replace his old habit with a new one, not wrapping the leash around his hand. I need to replace my old, unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones!
I am making progress with replacing my bad habits. I was in the habit of drinking at least one bottle ( 32 oz water bottle) of tea a day. Now, instead I drink that 32 oz of actual water! I have cut down my tea intake to about 2 eight oz. cups a day at most. Also, I drink sweet tea, I'm from the South after all. Now though, instead of using 10 scoops of sugar I use only 5. I have cut my sugar in half! I am also getting into the habit of working out at least 4 days a week, a habit I hope to keep after I go back to work in a couple of weeks. Working out at Curves is much better than laying on the couch!
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