How do you break a bad habit?

7 comments

1. depends on the habit, each takes an individual approach, involving both the material (physical?) factors, and your mental issues.

   I used to bite my nails. I stopped after I did my first gel nails, and it took YEARS for me to get in a mental space for doing fake nails.

   It’s a pretty easy habit to defeat, and it already took 2 side approach.

   Can’t even imagine how do people quit addictions

2. If it’s something like fidgeting or ripping paper then try directing that attention elsewhere eg. fidget cube

   In a bad habit you get comfortable and the idea of doing something healthy/productive/helpful for you is probably associated with some pain or other negative feelings—even if it’s just doing the dishes: having to get up, take off the blanket and suffer the cold ‘till you get used to it, collect the dishes to be washed, spend ages trying to warm the water… In this case you need to re-associate those negative feelings with your current bad habit and the good feelings on what you want to do. You can focus on the end result and how happy you will be, how much better you’ll be for it, how much easier it will get, how proud you are of yourself for starting

   This ofc depends on the habit but I with you luck! Don’t give up, it will probably take a long time and you likely will have setbacks into the bad habits but you have to keep going

3. It might be easier for you to create new, healthy habits. I can really recommend The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which offers great insights in habits. Her podcasts ‘Happier’ is also good!

4. Stop doing it.

   I know it’s not easy, but for me, it’s what worked. I used to bite my nails. I tried redirecting and chewing gum instead, I tried those gross tasting nail polish type things, nothing worked until I really just committed to not doing it anymore. Same story for self harm. I’ve done a buttload of therapy, I tried snapping a rubber band on my wrist, I tried the ice cube thing, I tried using a red pen (I read somewhere that it cam satisfy the urge visually??), but again, nothing stuck until I really went “right, that’s it” and stopped entirely. No more replacing or redirecting, just nothing. It is hard, but I haven’t chewed my nails or cut myself in over a decade.

5. By being consistent

6. Divorce him

7. In my opinion, the most effective way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

   For example, if you have a bad habit which appears when you’re stressed, try to find other way to reduce this feeling. I used to pull out my eyelashes in stressful situations when I was a kid. My counselor said I have to find another way to cope with it. Tbh, it took so long to stop, but I finally did it. I replaced it with having hair tie on my wrist all of the time. I just “played” with it when felt nervous. It’s been a few years and I still do it. Maybe it’s not the best solution, but for sure better than losing eyelashes.