It is easy to reflect on your new healthy habits and enjoy how they make you feel. However, what about those unhealthy habits? Unhealthy habits can prevent you from living your best life. They can interrupt your life and prevent you from meeting your goals. Additionally, they often waste precious time and energy. Have you ever wondered why you can’t get rid of a bad habit? More importantly, is there anything you can do about it?
This blog post will explore bad habits and how they can lead to negative thoughts and triggers for substance use. What’s more, the post will explore how The Guest House can assist you in fostering healthy habits as an alumnus.
How Do I Know if I Have a Bad Habit?
It is important during recovery to be able to identify trends in your life. Most importantly, it’s good to be able to pinpoint areas in your life that need improvement while protecting existing healthy habits. Identifying these trends is especially important for building healthy habits in recovery.
Often, a bad habit can trigger your brain to remember something from your past. A bad habit can seem to spiral into a negative thought process. Before you know it, you are making excuses to participate in past negative behaviors. This is just one reason why it’s important to identify trends in your recovery. Additionally, you may find underlying causes that can put a strain on different aspects of recovery.
The quickest way to identify a bad habit is to ask the people you spend the most time with. They may be able to point out habits you engage in that you are unaware of. On the other hand, practicing introspection daily can open doors in your self-awareness. This can help you identify trends in your recovery and point you in the right direction.
Attach a Healthy Habit to a Bad Habit
Bad habits interrupt your life, subvert your goals, and waste time and energy during recovery. Most habits are caused by stress and boredom. Bad habits provide some kind of payoff in your life; otherwise, you would not continue with these behaviors. This is why it tends to be nearly impossible to “just quit.” Think of a time when someone told you to just “stop using.” If it was that easy, then this blog post would not need to be written.
Bad habits are there to teach you something about yourself. It is easy for those who have never faced addiction to insinuate that “it’s not that serious.” However, the fight against using addictive substances is ongoing and needs effort and attention. Bad habits were there as an attempt to meet certain needs in your life. For this reason, it is important to attach a healthy habit to a bad habit. If you eliminate a bad habit, you will have needs that go unmet. It is for that reason that you should aim to meet these needs by practicing a healthy habit.
How to Beat a Bad Habit
If you expect to eliminate your bad habits without a plan or without replacing them, your unmet need will sabotage you. It will be harder to stick with a routine because of the need that is asking for attention. It is important to think of your bad habit from a different perspective to overcome it. All you need to do is to think about the process of elimination in a new way.
Below are several different perspectives that will help you engage in new healthy habits:
- Cut out as many triggers as you can. No matter what bad habit you have, eliminate anything that reminds you of past substance use. This will have a positive impact on your recovery.
- Hold yourself accountable. Tell someone what you are planning to do and be open about your progress and/or regression.
- Surround yourself with people who have healthy habits.
- Visualize yourself breaking a bad habit.
- Plan for failure. Keep in mind that you are a person, not a machine. Have grace for yourself no matter where you are at in your journey.
Exploring One Healthy Habit at a Time at The Guest House
Recovering from addiction does not give you a free pass to never have to work on yourself again. In recovery, it is important to pay attention to your bad habits just as you focus on your healthy habits. When you are not completely focused, you can slip up and start approaching life from a negative perspective.
At The Guest House, we understand how habits can dictate the way you live your life. We know your life is impacted by your actions. Sometimes you may find yourself needing extra guidance, like a professional counselor who can understand your situation with empathy. Oftentimes, it is easier to gain insights from someone who can take an objective point of view.
Additionally, you may find that participating in adventure therapy can help you start a new healthy habit. Perhaps you like being surrounded by the great outdoors and going on walks and hikes. On the other hand, you may find yourself being creative and engaging in art. The Guest House offers art therapy to incorporate healing through creativity and art. No matter what healthy habits you might want to start, we have something for you to try.
Sometimes admitting you have a bad habit is all it takes to begin to change. It might be hard to be vulnerable because of all that you have gone through. Also, it is easy to get caught up in thinking that your bad habit doesn’t matter. However, exploring the roots of your bad habit can help you grow and find new perspectives. We do not take this lightly at The Guest House. We understand how important it is to have healthy habits in recovery. All too often, people hide behind the things they struggle with. At The Guest House, we will sit with you and give you space to work through your struggles. Give us a call at (855) 483-7800.