New Year’s Resolutions can vary from developing a good relationship with your body, to making a new friend each month (yes, that’s a real resolution). A more common resolution is to rid of your bad habits. Before you can slowly taper off your bad habits, you have to recognize them.

A habit is something that you do regularly, often without thinking about it (MacMillan Dictionary). A bad habit is one that causes harm to yourself or others. Some bad habits could include: gossiping, biting your fingernails, emotional shopping, cracking your knuckles, interrupting people, not flossing, unhealthy eating or drinking, breaking promises (to yourself or others), or procrastinating. Forming a new habit can take from 18 to 254 days. It takes 66 days for a habit to become automatic. Recognizing your bad habit can take any time between (or after!) then.

There are as many good habits as there are bad habits, but bad habits are just that: bad. Some of your habits are bad for your health—mental or physical; some of them are bad for other people. Bad habits can destroy your body, your mind, and other people’s minds.

A habit starts with a trigger, or cue: a time of day, an emotional state, a belief, other people, or a pattern of behavior. This cues a routine, followed by a “reward.” This is called the “habit loop”. Breaking through the loop is the hard part.

Identifying a bad habit can be more difficult than it seems. To eliminate a bad habit you need to start by discovering its trigger. The key is to ask yourself questions like, “Am I doing anything daily that is keeping me from achieving my goals?” “Does it make me feel guilty or embarrassed?” and, “Does it negatively impact me, or others?”

Some habits are easily recognizable as “bad” or “good.” Obviously, smoking, drinking, sleeping in, spending excessive time on electronics, and lying are bad habits, but some bad habits are not-so-bad habits in disguise.

An example of this might be drinking coffee. Coffee in moderation (no more than 3 cups a day!) can boost your metabolism, exercise endurance, and reduce your risk of gallstones and kidney stones, according to a Harvard Medical School study. Other habits, like swearing, losing your temper, giving in to cravings, and daydreaming are also not-horrible for you. For more information on this, click on this link.

Breaking a bad habit, despite what most sources say, does not take 21 days. It can take up to a year to push through your most overwhelming urges. Do not fight your bad habits. Instead of struggling to resist them, make new ones to replace them. Find a new reason for good habits, and find ways to make them comfortable and routine (TruthHawk). Begin 2018 with a good start. Break your bad habits, and replace with good ones. The New Year is a chance to break through the cycle.

Sources Referenced:

https://www.habitsforwellbeing.com/what-is-a-habit-how-do-they-work-and-how-

can-i-change-them/

https://pavlok.com/blog/list-of-bad-habits/

How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science)

https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them

http://www.adeledurand.com/how-to-identify-a-bad-habit/

https://www.realbuzz.com/articles-interests/health/article/10-bad-habits-that-are-good-for-you/