How to Create a Healthy Living Habit

We often think of habits as negative things. They are those things we do, that even though we would prefer not to do them, we still do them without consciously thinking about them. It is useful however to consider that habits can be both good and bad and that good habits that are beneficial to us, are just as important as removing bad habits.

 

Habits are formed in three weeks. Changing our life style, or eating different foods, or choosing to go on a daily walk will become second nature to us if we can maintain consistency doing the action over a that period. 

 

The most difficult part of forming a new habit is starting to form it. With discipline, consistency, self-control, and a belief that the habit will help you, you can develop healthy living habits. Once developed, they will become second nature to you and you will find them simple to maintain in your lifestyle. We all learn good habits in our child hood that grow into adult hood with us and in forming a new habit in adulthood, we are aspiring to begin to use the new habit as effortlessly as we clean our teeth or make our bed each morning.

 

The key to developing these healthy habits is to move them from the conscious level to the subconscious level. They should become something you do without thinking. To achieve this, you must prioritize the activity as essential in your life and ensure nothing can prevent it happening. For example, you may want to walk for half an hour before work each morning. It is essential that you set a time and you walk each day at the same time. Nothing should prevent that walk occurring. After 3 weeks, if you do not do the walk in the morning, you will feel as if you have missed something out of your morning routine. 

 

In forming new habits, it is normal to have a bed period where the resolve weakens. When this happens, it is important to focus on putting the weak moments “behind you” and to start the process again with no hesitation. Once you begin to form a new habit, if you regress, simply start the habit again and don’t look back. With patience, the consistency will pay off and you will succeed in forming a new healthy life habit.