Breaking Bad Habits: Understand the psychology and learn how to overcome the challenges
Don’t underestimate the challenge of addiction
In 2018, I realised I needed to start changing my habits. After spending most of my 20s active and moving lots, my 30s gave way to more desk work and less moving.
Whilst on holiday in Malta, I decided the first simple step, was to quit full fat fizzy drinks. I went cold turkey, and switched to diet drinks, and my best friend that week, helped my make the right decision and stay off the full fat ones.
Once I returned home though, it was harder. My body wanted the sugar, but even more so, psychologically, I felt I was missing out on something. it was a conscious mental effort to choose the diet drinks over the full fat ones, which took around 6 months to work through. Imagine that — 6 months, just to stop wanting to drink full fat drinks! These days I have no issues. If I occasionally have to drink a full fat drink, I can taste the sugar, but also I don’t miss it when I revert to the diet ones.
This is why changing habits are so difficult, particularly with some of the things we are trying to quit in modern society — things which are literally designed to get us addicted — processed food, tobacco, phones, computer game, alcohol, drugs…. Each one…
