Why changing your habits is so difficult to do

There are many reasons why you may want to change your habits; perhaps you have realised that negative habits are impacting your mental health, or you want to break bad cycles that you are stuck in.

You may think that changing your habits is as easy as just identifying what you want to change and then going for it, but soon you will realise that changing your habits is quite tricky.

But why is this? Why do we find changing even the smallest habits so difficult to do?

We don’t know if we do them

Sometimes the biggest hurdle to making changes in your life is your perception of your choices. Look at it this way: breaking a bad habit is not possible if you do not know it’s a bad habit.

Be aware of your bad habits; it might not be the easiest thing to look at, but we can promise you that it is the definite first step in making a change.

You don’t want to change

Have you ever known that you need to change something in your life but found a reason not to? This is a huge hurdle in making change. You may feel that you simply do not have the time or emotional capacity to make those changes, or you may also be in a cycle of negative thinking that means that the whole world is against you and nothing you do will help that.

There may be an underlying issue

Sometimes the barrier to making changes could be something psychological within you. Depression and ADD are two examples of this. Depression can leave you feeling lacking in energy, which in turn means that you will not want to eat healthily or go out and exercise.

ADD, on the other hand, means that you have lots of energy to get things done but are easily distracted, leaving lots of the tasks you need to complete.

You compare yourself to others

Whilst it is no bad thing to be inspired to make changes by those around you, comparing yourself to others with lives that are out of your reach might not help you in the long run. When you compare yourself to others, you might be setting yourself up for failure.

Instead, compare yourself to yourself; you are the only person you should be trying to “be”, and you are only breaking your bad habits for yourself and no one else.

You are going through a hard time

Another reason you might find it hard to break bad habits is that you are having a hard time. If you have lots of stress and worry going on in your life, then the last thing you want to do is change something in your life.

However, sometimes, if you are facing hardships, you will want to change the things in your life that you can control. This may help the rest of it not seem so bad.

The thing to remember with bad habits is that you have to want to change them. Think about what you are currently doing and the negative impact this may have on your life, then think about how you can change them and make positive steps.