Am I just a bag of habits? Over time, slowly picking up new ones, making my life a little better or maybe even a little worse?
Recently, I found myself starting to pick up a bad habit. Before my wonderful wedding, there was a lot of stress in my life. I had to make sure everything for the wedding was all set and in place (I did have my now wonderful wife to help. Not that she wasn’t wonderful before; you get the point) and for some reason I decided to buy a puppy 6 weeks out from the wedding (because like having a baby, there is never really a good time, so why not get one during the worst time).
At work we were still getting the kinks out of a new workout system, hiring a new coach, onboarding interns for the summer, I was adjusting to a new-ish job role, and if the universe wasn’t already thinking,”hey, how else can I make the next 6 weeks of your life hell?” there was a scheduling conflict thrown into the mix as well.
What was the not so great habit that was slowly creeping into my life? Stress eating after work. I used to stress eat a lot when I was younger but hadn’t for what feels like a long time.
One night I caught myself reaching for a pack of carrots and some hummus. I thought to myself, why am I getting food right before dinner? I didn’t know other than that was what I had been doing for the past month most night. What was once a one-time thing slowly made its way into my daily routine and became an every night thing. I wasn’t even really thinking, it was just what I did when I got home.
This is all to say that habits usually start out small, but then they become routine and we no longer even think about what we are doing. Sometimes this can be good for us, especially at work, because once something becomes a habit it takes up a lot less self-control and mental energy. Once you have formed a good habit, it will simply become part of your routine and allow you to focus your energy on forming another healthy habit.
I wrote a piece over at Stack.com about 4 habits that are affecting your workout and how to turn them around. Learn More
Giving you the tools to succeed,
Josh W
