It's probably fair to say that most of us have had trouble stopping that which should be stopped - I mean bad behaviours or habits - and we've all probably chastised ourselves for it and probably worked really hard to delude ourselves that it'll all be ok...even if we know it will not. Applying the brakes when it comes to arresting our bad habits can be difficult because those bad habits may make life easier, be enjoyable or simply so compelling that stopping them seems an impossibility.
Today I had lunch with a client who certainly isn't a picture of health; the person is quite overweight (morbidly obese) and considering he's had a heart attack in the past I'd have thought he'd not eat what he did at lunch or light up the cigarette afterwards. Yep, bad habits can be so difficult to stop.
As someone with a health condition I deny myself so many things as far as food goes and the quantities I consume are also taken into account.
Would I like to smash a pizza? Well fucken yeah I would, but I do not as it's not good for me. When I'm tired would I rather not exercise, when I feel like having some alcoholic drinks would I like more than one, would I like to get through an entire day without having to think about sugar levels, carbohydrates, insulin injections and all that fucken nutbaggery? Well yeah, but if I was to cave in my health would suffer and life is pretty precious, we only get one after all.
Watching the guy devour his lunch like fucken Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars (google it) made me wonder about just how much this person, (of under 50 years of age) thought of his own life, how badly he wanted to watch his children grow up and what sort of life he truly wanted to have; does he know when he dies the lights go out for good? Sure, life is there to be enjoyed but certain behaviours work counter-productively to life-enjoyment even though they may feel good at the time.
For me, well...knowing why I want to stop bad habits and counter-productive behaviours in respect of my life is how I manage to do it. I stand back and look at my life (a pretty fucken good one), the people around me I love and value, and even those I've lost prematurely and it all culminates in me wanting to live my best life, a balance of awesomeness and of doing the right thing so I'm able to enjoy it for a long time to come.
I wonder if you have any thoughts on this? Do you have bad habits you can't break, or some you have managed to break that have positively impacted your life? Have you had a life-threatening moment that snapped you into action to live a better life, have better habits and behaviours? Have you died because of your terrible life-choices and habits? (I'm assuming no one will say yes to this one.)
Feel free to tell me about it, how you stopped your bad habit and how that worked out well for you, or why you did not break your bad habit and what effects that had on your life; just comment generally if you'd rather, it's your choice.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image in this post is my own - The front brake rotor of a mid-1990's Benetton F1 race car
I think people who let themselves go and don't control themselves, don't think about others as much. If they cared more about their family, they would have controlled themselves much earlier instead of reaching that point (morbidly obese). Most of them like to live in the moment and enjoy life without a care in the world. I said most because there are some that have an illness, and they can't do anything about it. I have heard of people that have survived a stroke/heart attack/gout attacks where they can't walk, and still eat the same bad things for them once they feel 'better'.
Yep, you have said exactly what I'm thinking; watching that guy (someone I've known for a little while) eat like there would be no consequences made me question his sanity. He even had a big laugh at my choice of a grilled calamari salad. I'm like, ok fatty dead man walking, I'll come to your funeral and console your family.
Bonkers.
Unfortunately, I know a lot of people with this mentally, and a few of them are relatives. Some just have the YOLO mentality, and others even say "If it's your time, it's your time". They would even recount some people they know that took care of themselves and ate healthy, but still died of a heart attack. What's worse is a lot of them would even get mad if I point their unhealthy meal out to them, and tell me to mind my own business.
Yep, that's the delusion I referred to.
I am in the fight of my life right now. Never has it been so hard to not make that second ham sammich. Or eat that junk food. I always thought I had stronger will power. It is a real struggle man. I am gonna win tho.
I have stopped the weight gain at 235#. That is way too heavy for 5'6" height.
My goal is 200 even. If I can make that I will keep right on rollin' to 180 or less. After I smash a fuckin' pizza or 5. Being hungry sucks bro.
As for the brakes and stopping. I have never been comfortable with using air to apply the brakes. So many points that could fail. And you can bet it will be heavy on a steep grade when they do...
My glass today is half empty.
Back and neck are cracked. Gonna go fill that mug to the top with a BEER !! 🍺 🍻
It's hard man, I know. I guess what has to happen is a person needs to find a compelling reason to want to make whatever change is required; if it's strong enough then those things will happen...and also, not to try and do everything all at once, creep up in it little by little, make improvements each day so to speak.
Set goals and smash them (not pizzas.)
But Pizza 🍕 soooo gooood... LoL
Probably TMI but imagine having trouble seeing your gear to take a piss. Now you get it. Pretty compelling to me.!!
Yeah. it sounds like it's time to cowboy up and do something about it.
I believe that changing habits takes time but it is a question of perseverance and discipline. I have had a hard time eliminating some of them. Many years ago I was sedentary for example and with perseverance I was able to control that, go for a walk... and now my life has completely changed for the better. I went out one day, walked a bit and then another day and then I started to enjoy nature and it was great!
I have another habit or vice, drinking mate, but it's good for my health so I still drink it and I love it!
Sometimes the luxury of time isn't available where bad habits are concerned...while a person works through the change...well, things may go badly.
It's true, that can happen. I concentrated on improving my wellbeing, and I told myself the best thing for my body and health is not this, let's change. It's hard!
Sometimes one must do difficult things to achieve good things.
Exactly and it was worth it!
You would think that cancer might have been enough to put me on the straight and narrow, but it was actually my friend having a heart attack before 50 that really got me thinking about my health. I still probably eat (and drink) more than I should, but I am working out and actually I am pretty mindful about what I eat. Let's say 80 percent diligent as opposed to 100 percent. I'm not losing weight like I wish I was, but I don't think I am gaining either and I am definitely building muscle. My friend was mindful for a few months after his incident, but soon went back to the same or similar habits.
Doing something is better than doing nothing, I mean as far as seeking improvement. So many choose not to do the hard work, or even the moderately hard work, and pay the price for it eventually. 80% is better than 70% and in doing that, making an effort and seeing results, it's more likely you'll accelerate your efforts. Keep it up.
Thanks, I appreciate it! I'm trying. We just got a treadmill and I have added that to my routine as well.
That's the way...that's actually called momentum and the more you do towards taking better care the more you'll do to take better care.
Bad habits are like vices that are very difficult to give up and eventually bring us physical and mental problems.
I agree, they feel good in the moment, (some of them I guess) but there's always repercussions.
I don't see where a few minutes of enjoyment is worth potentially living in misery for years? Once you start having health issues, it gets more and more difficult to reverse them and have a good life.
This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project
Yep, it makes sense to me, what you say, but so many people see it differently, or are too undisciplined (or fucken lazy) to put in a little bit of effort for the greater good. Well, that's a choice they make I suppose; I choose otherwise personally, it just seems to make sense.
Yeah, I know everyone has to make their own decisions. It's just difficult to understand some of them.
I concur.
The biggest disappointment is when you "swear" to stop doing it and then again go back. Probably there must be some hm pivotal moment in life to cut it out and keep it that way. Still waiting for this epiphany tho.
A lack of discipline, that's what you're describing.
Yeah could be, but here again, addiction is hard stuff and that small prize for doing it makes us calm. I think some of us are more prone to get addicted and as I can see it runs in the family. And some members were serving in the army where should be learned that discipline. For myself I can admit I am lacking it, probably because I am free bird, I don't even wear or check the time :)
We had one great doctor who had a 90+% success rate with alcoholic treatments. His method was "simple", run a marathon when you stop drinking. Somehow, running a whole marathon and the way to get there will break your will or rather blockades you had. I think another great thing is also you have a lot of time to think about addiction, problems and causes of your drinking situation.
Well, discipline gets things done; I guess some are happy not to apply it and get things done huh?
Slowly I'd cut this horn on my forehead, bad habits, haha!
Lol.
😁 Happy weekend boss!
Developing self control is a very difficult habit and is found to be very challenging for most people because it entails a lot of self-discipline. This is so because of distractions and temptations here and there. But the crux of the matter should be "Would my present habits lead to a better overall wellbeing for me? Will it augur well for me in the long run? Would the quality of my life improve as I get older? Would I be there for my loved ones if I continue the way I'm going?
From these perspectives, I would fucken want everyone to exercise self-control in key areas, for a better quality of life and to be there for our loved ones.
I think it's quite selfish of a person to do things that are counter productive to their general lives and health as it effects those around them also...but people do it, choose to do it, and they'll just have to suffer. The consequences as will others around them.
Yes! Selfish is the one right word to use for such people.
I consider myself a strong-willed person.
It takes a strong will and determination to kick a bad habit.
As a child, I had a bad habit that is not so life-threatening, but it is unpleasant. I was biting my nails. Little nervous boy 😁
In addition to the fact that I often touched my dirty hands with my teeth, there was also the effect of the aesthetics of my hands and nails - there was nothing beautiful there.
And how I stopped?
When we took the high school entrance exam, many of my friends started smoking. Supposedly, they were very nervous about the exam, so they had to calm their nerves a bit 🙂 when I asked them why they were doing that, they told me: "What are you wondering, you're biting your nails, that's even worse!".
I realized that it was a terrible habit of mine and then I said to them, but also to myself, "This day, for the last time in my life, I tore off a piece of nail with my teeth!".
That's how it was.
To this day, I don't bite my nails 🙂
Oh yeah that's a pretty poor habit to have, not really sure why people do it though. Anyway, you broke the habit and got a dual benefitt; you stopped doing it for one, and you learned that you can control your behaviours in positive ways. Well done.
Along with that success, the loss of an ugly habit, I did not acquire another one, smoking.
A habit that my friends still have today.
Yep, it's not a good look, the old bitten fingernails.
Hi, Galen, I have bad habits and I try to correct them, I will only confess one, that in my opinion I still spend too much time on Hive (not that much either). The idea behind correcting our bad habits is central to a life project, let's say dignified. To grow and progress it is necessary to leave the satisfactions of the moment to reach greater goals. Well, I will confess something in this place. I have had toxic habits that in my adolescence could have killed me. I recovered and started my career in psychology at the age of 28. Combining work and studies. I think this can be called willpower. A hug
There's many things that could be classed as bad habits, some worse than others, and at the end of the day it all comes down to having the determination to be a better version of oneself, choosing to be or choosing not to be. People have to live with the choice they make.
I couldn't agree more with what you say, everyone is responsible for their choices. Have a great Friday Galen.
Yep, Friday is just beginning. I'm having breakfast prior to ta 2.5 hour drive (each way) to see a client and then around 8 hours if office time. Sucks, but at least it's Friday.
Have a great weekend Galen
Sometimes, bad habits are not seen by the individual as bad. They just think it's all about what others feel about them.
It's a wise deposition to control ourselves - character and emotion wise. Learning discipline is good.
Ability to trim our excesses and eliminate bad habits from us is a proof that we have feelings for others.
Discipline is something most people don't really know how to apply, certainly when it comes to behaviours they see as enjoyable even those those behaviours may be detrimental to them.
Congratulations @galenkp! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next payout target is 168000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
Yeah...you know, bad habits can be very addictive and difficult to stop. Probably because of how they easily blend-in into our lives to become part of it, since most times we don't really need to put in any effort to develop them. They just come naturally, a passive process. Unlike when you want to avoid or stop them completely, here you have to put in discipline with conscious effort, which is an active process, and hence could be difficult. I think when it comes to bad habits, like addictions, prevention is better than cure too.
Some of these things may not be bad in themselves, or generally accepted as bad habits, but considering context or the situation surrounding such actions or inactions, you'll discover that at that point in time, they become bad habits. Also when things are overdone or done out of proportion, most times though ordinary good, become bad habits. Like eating too much, drinking too much, etc. Even doing the right thing at the wrong time (as in procrastination) or the wrong thing at the right time.
As a student, due to the age we are in - information and technology, I had to always be with my phone. Online or offline, but mostly online. Either to get information regarding my lecture schedule, or information that will help me understand what I'm studying at the time. But I discovered that most times I tend to delve into other things outside studies, during the time I was supposed to be studying. Like replying those text messages from friends, checking out the pop-ups, notifications and all. Before I know what's happening, I become tired without having read anything. But here is the interesting thing, it was slowly becoming a habit, and I knew that if I continued that way, it would become more difficult for me to change.
So I immediately started putting in specific and intentional measures to combat it. Some times I put my phone on DND for the number of hours I wanted to study, after which I go to checkout the messages and reply, this is supposed to be my break time. I also minimized using soft copy materials, and increased the number of hard copy texts I had.
Important thing is discovering these bad habits in time, and recognising them as bad habits. Then be intentional about putting in strong measures and road-blocks to contain and prevent them from escalating. No one is immune to the menace bad habits can cause.
Well paraphrased.