I like bad habits

Why are bad habits so much easier to maintain than healthy habits?

I would rather sit down and plow into a bag of chips and guzzle a bottle of wine, than prepare a nice healthy meal EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT.

It’s a dilemma, for sure. Healthy habits can be scary. Bad habits are easy as pie (see what I did there).

It’s our mind science. When we think of healthy habits and think of having to do these healthy habits all the time, we feel deprived. We become completely preoccupied with food, which leads to overeating, which leads to us feeling like shit about our bodies. Because we feel like we have to be so compliant, pretty soon here comes the “screw it,” “this sucks,” “this is stupid,” “why would anyone want to do this?” We become so focused with “doing things right” that we take away from the whole process of changing our habits. We just get pissed off. Restriction is a recipe for disaster. We hate following rules. Food rules especially. We can’t sustain it. We don’t want to.

The bad habits make us feel like we are being defiant, sneaky if you will. We feel like we are getting away with something. It’s kind of exciting. Until it isn’t. We start to feel like crap, our daily life begins to suffer. We become crabby. We yell at our kids. We don’t sleep well. We just feel crappy overall. We can’t sustain it. We don’t want to.

So what do we do? How about we work towards a healthy mix. What’s a healthy mix? This is where you need to experiment. You need to explore. You definitely shouldn’t deprive yourself. Take one day and have some wine and chips. Don’t feel guilty about it. Give yourself permission. It’s okay. Change your thinking. For instance, if you are telling yourself it’s okay to have the wine and chips, a lot of times, just changing that little piece of the puzzle, makes us not even want the wine and chips. We can sustain it. We want to.

Behavior goals can come into play here. Start practicing consistency. Start showing up. Keep learning and improving. Lighten up, relax and have fun. You will keep learning more and more about yourself. Never stop experimenting. Never stop discovering.

My approach is different and I like it. I think practicing the good habits is being defiant. I think practicing the good habits is gutsy, sassy and daring. Be sassy AF!!