Chantel Rodriguez

Staff Writer

Cvr5570@psu.edu

Habits are very common in our activities of daily living. Whether it be taking the same route to work every day, exercising daily, or simply brushing our teeth in the morning. The habits become ingrained in our brains and eventually automatic for us. These are all normal forms of a habit. Having a habit can be a good thing, but it is easy however to start up bad habits.

A bad habit may sometimes feel like it is consuming your life or replacing other activities you are avoiding. It may be a way for you to cope with stress in your life also. Many of us have procrastinated on assignments, binged on late night snacking, or even forgot to take care of our mental and physical health. Most of the time, the reason for a bad habit can be easily fixed. The habit, whether it be good or bad, “takes practice and repetition to form, the same is true when it comes to breaking them”, says Elliot Berkman, the director of the University of Oregon’s Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab.

First things first, figure out what your bad habit may be. Being aware of what your bad habit is can help you better prepare to resist and substitute it with a new healthier habit to benefit you. Developing a strategy to curb the bad habit can help with that. For example, if you have the habit of smoking when you are stressed, then maybe substituting it with breathing exercises or taking time away to be alone could help also. Find out what your bad habit may be and have a plan of action to do something else instead to fulfill that old bad habit.

Secondly, if you have certain triggers that make your bad habit more prevalent try to cut them out. Triggers make it much easier for you to fall back into those bad habits. For example, if you are attempting to give up late night snacking of your favorite treats, then maybe try to set a time for you to have your last meal with a snack. The environment you surround yourself around could also be a trigger. For example, if snacks in your home makes you binge eat then avoid having them in the home altogether. By changing your surroundings then you can change the end result.

Lastly, surround yourself with individuals that can support you. That could mean having an accountability buddy that is there to help you along the way to motivate you when you feel you may fall back into that bad habit. Pair up with a buddy that may also be trying to cut out a bad habit. That way you both can keep each other on track. The point of this is to have someone in your corner that will cheer you on on your good days and pick you back up when you fail. They are there to be a strong motivator for you.

Attempting to break a bad habit is not going to be easy. It’s going to take time, hard work, and persistence. Many people who do succeed in quitting their bad habit sometimes fall back into it. It does not mean they failed. It does not mean they cannot do it. It’s all about trial and error. You can be successful in breaking any bad habit.