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Have you ever, when talking with an interlocutor in zoom, look not at him, but at yourself? Or look at your reflection in every showcase that turns up? It is high time to give up this and a number of other habits. And that’s why.
1. Alcohol
Especially if it’s the only thing that keeps your social life going. Or if it is vital for you to relax, have sex with someone, or just feel better.
It is worth considering: what do you lack without it? What’s stopping you from just enjoying life? And work on getting it. After all, it is unlikely that you have ever heard from anyone: “I am so sorry that I took this break and did not drink for 10 years!”
2. Smoking
For many, smoking is still a “social glue” – how else can you keep in touch with colleagues or settle into a new job? It’s also a way to (supposedly) deal with stress. Is it necessary to say that the harm from this method is much more than good?
3. Comparing yourself to others
If smoking harms physical health, then stress negatively affects the psyche. And one of the sources of stress is that we constantly compare ourselves to others. With friends and family, with celebrities and random people on the street and, of course, with more successful peers.
May be enough? Maybe it’s time to return to yourself – your life, your work, your experience, your body? Comparison with others does not lead to anything good – remember this the next time you want to do it.
4. Captious study of your reflection in the mirror
When you walk past a mirror, you can’t help but stop to appreciate the changed curves of your body? Carefully peering at your reflection in the elevator, but on the street you can’t calmly walk past the shop window?
Stop. First, hardly anything has changed compared to the last time you looked at yourself. Secondly, all mirrors are different, none will give a complete and reliable idea of how you really look. So it’s time to stop this practice and think about what you have inside.
5. Insufficient water intake
It’s time to start treating yourself like a plant: you need water and sunlight in the same way. And, if you forget about it, it’s worth setting yourself reminders that it’s time to drink water – for example, every couple of hours during the day. It is also helpful to keep bottles or jugs of clean drinking water around the house.
6. Obsessing over what you haven’t done
Imagine the situation: you came to a yoga class and three minutes after it started, you remembered that you forgot to transfer money to the contractor who did the work for you. What will you do – stop the practice and go out to transfer the payment? Or will you think about it for the remaining 57 minutes instead of doing what you came for?
There are many things that our restless mind does not want to leave alone. And it makes life very difficult.
7. Treat self-care as just another “thing”
Yes, taking care of yourself is important, but don’t treat it like another task or project. It should be a pleasure, certainly not another duty. Take small steps: remember to slow down and regulate your breathing, drink water, find reasons to be happy. Such small actions sooner or later lead to big changes.
8. Self-blame
Cellulite or wrinkles, insufficient income or lack of a personal life, overeating and the mistakes of the past – we will always find something to shame ourselves for. It’s time to stop feeling guilty about who you are, what kind of person you are, what your needs, desires and abilities are. Yes, easier said than done, but this is the only way to feel freer and happier.
9. Apologies
Not for everything, of course, but only because you do not meet someone’s expectations, do not justify other people’s hopes and generally live on this planet. Straighten your shoulders and admit that you are already good, that you are enough, and you do not have to ask anyone for forgiveness – of course, except when you really hurt or offended another.
10. Consumption
It’s not just about food and shopping, it’s also about content. Instagram and TikTok, Facebook and Netflix, YouTube and endless consumption of news are like fast food that we feed to the brain.
Try to just sit in silence, breathe, be alone. Let the brain occupy itself – you will see, this will lead to the birth of new interesting ideas.