Habit is an excuse I am often given when working with people regarding their weight loss journey. They do not think they can stop doing something because it is a habit. They do not think they can start doing something as a habit if it seems out of the ordinary to them.
Nothing can be further from the truth. We develop and drop habits throughout our lives and some of these changes happen with little thought or disruption. For example, if we take a class that runs for eight weeks, we go to that class as a habit for the eight weeks and then stop easily.
An example from my own life, unrelated to weight loss, happened when I got rid of the tv about twenty years ago. I was doing this to save money on the cable bill in order to move to a new apartment. I agonized over this decision for months and then finally just decided to do it.
What would I do if I did not have the tv to flick on when I entered my home? This seemed like it was going to be a difficult and upsetting change. My son was young at the time. How would he adjust to not seeing his cartoons?
The shocking thing about this change was how smoothly it went for both of us. It took no more that a few days for us to forget about tv altogether. I thought I might bring it back after my financial situation improved but never did.
Just because you have eaten a certain thing with regularity, does not mean you need to keep eating it forever.
Later, when I was making many dietary changes, I had the very same experience as with tv. My new habits came swiftly, and the old dropped easily. I was so happy with my new, more flavorful and energizing foods, that I had no time to miss most of the old garbage and only gave it a thought when wondering why I had thought it to be so good in the past.
My post is for the #freewrite daily challenge by @mariannewest. Freewrite is a great way to post on steemit when you do not think you have the time, or talent, or anything to say. I know you can do this too! Here is Marianne’s freewrite prompt post for today. Give it a try and surprise yourself.