Maybe you don’t realize some of your habits make you miserable. After all, why would you do things that steal your joy? You meet enough happiness-pinching events not to have to create your own. Nonetheless, like everyone else, you might still engage in behaviors that make you unhappy. See if you recognize any of the following common bad habits and take note of these bad habits.
Bad Habits to Quit
Procrastination
Putting off tasks can reduce joy because each time you do so you feel guilty. You know the job needs doing, and you would be better off with it out the way, but can’t quite bring yourself to snap into action. Further, when you procrastinate, you create a burden you need not own. Stop procrastinating, get jobs done in good time and you will feel light and stress-free.
Negative self-talk
Who’s your worst enemy? You of course. No one else speaks to you the way you talk to yourself. When you put yourself down, you dent your self-esteem and become sad. Luckily, though, you can change.
Negative self-talk is a habit that took time to create and it will take a while to get rid of too. However, persevere and the results will be worth the effort. When self-defeating words creep into your head, give them the heave-ho and replace them with their opposites. Initially doing so will feel false, but you will enjoy a brighter disposition. Also, you’ll develop the habit of generating positive inner talk and be body positive.
Filling up on low-quality fuel
Put bad fuel in any vehicle and it won’t run well; the same is true for you. When you watch depressing TV and spend too much time with energy vampires who go on about problems, your mind adapts to the fuel it’s given. You become as unhappy as your environment.
Give yourself a break and only top-up with healthy fuel from this moment. Eat nutritious foods, and avoid toxic people and other forms of negativity you need not endure, and your happiness will grow.
Holding on to sadness
Many people cling to unhappy memories about how people hurt them. Once again, doing so is negative fuel for the soul. Each time you repeat a thought about how an event damaged you in the past, you recreate that damage a little. The effects may not seem impressive, but they build. Over time your happiness plummets.
Realize painful memories have no power to hurt you if you let them go. Understand your grief and banish them with willpower, or carry out a ritual to remove them from your life. You can burn them after putting them on paper, sail them down the river, or talk them out of your system in front of the mirror until the sting goes out of your story.
After the suggested mirror work, replace the traces of negativity with positive words about how you’ve grown. Look your reflection in the eye and talk about the positive qualities you’ve gained from experiences until you feel thankful. As a result, you’ll feel strong.
Conclusion
You may carry out other habits that limit your happiness too. Recognize those times when you are blue and see if they correlate with a specific behavior. Did you watch a depressing drama on TV or talk to someone who always brings you down? Take action to quit bad habits that make you blue and reclaim your right to happiness.