Why is it Hard to Break Bad Habits?

I don’t know about you, but I used to give into my cravings more often than I’d like to admit. I drank a glass of wine at the end of most work nights and ate Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to my little heart’s desire. 

I let learned behaviors get into the way of achieving my goals because I was doing a little thing that I didn’t know existed at the time…. I was buffering. Buffering is the act of allowing yourself to give into your urges to make you feel good by doing something that takes little to no effort. 

The motivational triad is a psychology term that describes how the brain instinctively acts to seek pleasure, avoid pain and be efficient. Scientifically speaking, feeding those negative feelings with chocolate, ice cream and other buffering activities, is honestly just the way we are wired 

But, the good news is that you can work to break bad behaviors and free yourself from self sabotage! It takes a lot of dedication and consistency, but anyone can do it! And just so you know, it’s WONDERFUL when you get to the other side of those anxious recurring thoughts! Enter peaceful, happy thoughts. 

Pick your most common self-sabotaging behaviors (binging Netflix, drinking too much, binge eating, scrolling on social media, overexercising, overworking, etc.) and journal about it this week. Note your feelings around the topic. Then, pick something you’d rather be doing instead of that sabotaging behavior. Then, replace the unhealthy habit with the healthy one. FOLLOW THROUGH for yourself. 

I will warn you that this practice will not feel good. It will force you to sit with negative emotions, and you must learn to break your buffering habit in order to grow through the process. This is a tough life skill that they don’t teach in school, and I promise you can master it!