Why I think we need bad habits in our lives no matter our new year resolutions.
With the new year (decade even) fast approaching. I figured I let you in on my new year grudges. Yes, you read that one right, I have grudges. Not so much about the new year itself but the pressure we put onto it. All the habits that need kicking and resolution making is almost solely centred on one day of the year. Every hope, dream and desire we just shove aside all year long and on the very last day, we just pack it all in there.
For one year we live with our “bad” habits. We tell ourselves that we will change it, come the new year – so we basically bask in the fact that we can still frolic in our bad ways, for however many months we have left. Don’t get me wrong, I’m nothing if not a pool of bad habits… I bite my fingernails, I eat way too much chocolate (the truly bad kind), drink far too much coffee, I have stopped working out,…
We all have good and bad habits! And yes, it would be great if our good habits succeed over our bad habits, however I do believe – for many the bad habits aren’t nearly as bad as we think.
Bad Habits and why we need them
What defines a bad habit? Eating fast-food, drinking beer, watching too much Netflix… where do we draw the line? I am occasionally in McDonalds eating french-fries. I do love a freshly made italian pizza. However, I’m not at McDonalds every day and only eat pizza every other month. So technically, both classified as “bad food(=bad habit)” which I enjoy eating but is it reason enough to kick it? I bite my fingernails ever since I can remember, it’s a stress-relieve for me. I consider it therapeutic but also as a bad habit, because my fingers look rancid. For years I have tried to “kick” this habit of mine and I often succeed for a couple of months, sometimes even years but it always returns.
So, I came to the radical conclusion: Not all bad habits are created to be bad.
I strongly believe, some habits are meant to “stay”. I’m not a smoker nor am I a drinker, neither ever appealed to me but when is drinking becoming a bad habit? I strongly believe that most habits considered bad aren’t that bad to begin with. Yes, my sugar intake is far too intense – and for health reasons it is a habit I need to restrict but not kick. If you love something, like I do Milka noisette chocolate (I could devour it by the dozens) removing it from one’s life is not the answer, you l crave it and the craving itself makes you falter sooner or later. So, I rather have one bar a month (instead of one per week or even two) instead of not at all.
Good Habits
So rarely talked about at the new year bad habit kicking round table and yet – everyone wants them. I want them too – a life filled with good habits. Early bedtimes, a workout routine that would make every fitness guru jealous, healthy eating like it’s as easy as walking into McDonalds… to name a few. I have good habits; I just don’t appreciate them as much as I would the ones I don’t have. Look at your own life and you will find a good habit or two (maybe even three, four… – shock horror).
Resolutions and why they work better
Instead of kicking things out of one’s life – why not just “modify” it? If you drink way too much coffee (like me), give yourself a daily limit, instead of eliminating it all together. If you are a smoker, it might work better to reduce the number of cigarettes a day instead of quitting “cold turkey”.
Identify the truly bad things in your life and slowly minimize them. Make it your mission to change your bad habits into good habit.
Failure – is the best teacher
One of the most feared words out there – failure. I honestly think, failure is not half bad because it’s usually where we learn the most from. If your “goal” for the new year is to kick one thing or the other and if after several days, weeks or months you fail, don’t just give up on it all together – keep going. Everyday is a new beginning and if you tried something that in the end didn’t work out the way you had hoped, don’t despair just try again.
My resolutions for 2020 now
- Reducing my coffee intake to 2 coffees a day (from my usual 5)
- Starting to work out again (I used to workout daily before I stopped)
- Writing 2 Blogposts a week
- Reducing my sugar intake (my intake is currently Charlie & the Chocolate Factory Level)
- Working with To-Do-Lists again (I stopped months ago and feel like a scatter brain)
I have already implemented most of it, yes it doesn’t work perfectly every single day and I have still a long way to go to make it “perfect” but I started and I started now. Not on the most pressure packed day of the year with all it’s heaviness. You should do the same, start now, it will make all the difference and you will find, come NYE a big preassure has been lifted.
CHRISTMAS – A fearsome thing to behold
