Giving something up doesn’t always have to be difficult – The Mental Well-Being Coach
I’ve had to give up quite a few old behaviours and habits in the past 5 or so years on my journey back to mental and physical health and so I’ve had to create strategies for creating habit behaviour changes that have really worked for me.
This year I decided I need to give up drinking diet sodas. They were the one “bad” thing I really clung to after changing my diet and my fitness routines. I did it because it felt like a naughty treat and hey, there are no calories in it, so it was just my thing. That was ok but I was drinking A LOT of it and I’ve known for quite some time that this wasn’t great. So I decided 2022 was my year for giving it up.
So I have employed my usual 4 step method for effective habit change!
Giving something up used to feel so difficult because I would think of how deprived I was going be of not having that thing I so enjoy … knowing my willpower is not very strong I needed some tools to help me and this is how I’ve reliably been able to do this kind of thing!
- I make a list of all the reasons why I should want to give this thing up?
- ZERO nutritional value
- Fake sugars potentially linked to diabetes
- Possible carcinogenic ingredients
- Possible weight GAIN caused by body’s reactions to fake sugars.
- Expensive
2. Make a list of all the reasons why giving this thing up will be good for me
- Prevent possible health issues due to unknown effects.
- Prevent tooth enamel damage
- Prevent unnecessary weight gain/retention
3. Envision specifically how you will FEEL when you have successfully changed this behaviour
- I will feel healthier as I’ll be drinking more water
- Less bloated
- I’ll be less worried about possible side effects
4. When faced with the choice in future, recall the answers to 2 & 3. Repeat them to yourself before you make your choice.
The aim is to no longer WANT to choose this thing. People rarely struggle to say NO to things they DON’T WANT.
This is how I ended up giving up alcohol and when I applied the formula again this month I’ve doing giving up drinking diet soda so easy.
Yes it involves some thought practice at first but changing your thoughts is a lot easier than trying to use willpower to resist something that you are still clinging to mentally as something you want or need.
