Looking after your body and mind is incredibly important. When you practice self-care you’ll notice a huge difference to your mental wellbeing. To help you create healthier habits today, take on board these five pointers.
1. Identify your bad habits
If you want to create healthier habits first you have to identify which of your habits are unhealthy. Perhaps you smoke, or enjoy one or two many glasses of wine sometimes? Maybe you eat too much fast food, or stay up too late? You might not exercise enough, or perhaps you spend too much time on your iphone? Whatever your bad habits are, be honest with yourself, right them down, and take ownership.
2. Set goals to improve
Once you’ve identified your bad habits, it’s time to set goals to improve. Ensure that your goals are unmanageable and realistic. Setting goals that you can’t achieve will only serve to de-motivate you. Here are a few example goals to get you started:
- I’m going to drink three glasses of wine max, on a Friday or Saturday
- I’m going to gradually reduce the number of cigarettes I smoke, then switch to vaping, then eventually quit.
- I will go to the gym at least twice a week.
- I will eat healthy foods 5 days a week, (with 2 days for some moderate treats/ unhealthy food).
Please note, there’s a difference between drinking voluntarily and addiction. If you are experiencing alcohol addiction, you may need to attend a residential inpatient alcohol and drug rehab.
3. Use a habit tracker
To help you build healthy habits there are several habit tracking tools that you can use. Here are a few great options to try:
Habit Tracker: This app can help you to create good habits, and reach your goals. You can make charts, create notes, and monitor progress over time. You can set reminders, write a habit diary, and assess your results. The app also includes plenty of suggestions for healthy habits.
Momentum Habit Tracker: Using this app you create healthy habit goals, and improve your will power. Whether you want to eat better, de-stress, meditate, or improve your fitness, this is a great tool.
5. Use positive affirmations
Positive affirmations are simply positive phrases and statements. They can help you to set intentions, and challenge the negative thoughts in your mind. Positive affirmations can take many different forms, here are a few examples from Healing Brave:
- ‘I am worthy of good health.’
- ‘I create good health by talking and thinking about my wellness.’
- ‘I focus on positive progress.’
6. Reduce the stress
Stress can leave us prone to unhealthy habits, when you feel stressed it’s important that you have strategies to help you. Yoga is a great way to reduce stress, and mediation is also incredibly beneficial. There are many herbal supplements that can help to reduce stress including ashwagandha, valerian, and passionflower.
Creating healthy habits can take a little time. Be patient with yourself and don’t be afraid to try new things.
Thank you for reading!
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