Change Your Habits

CHANGE YOUR HABITS

If anything this Corona has taught us is that #stayinghome, saves lives. At the same time, for those lucky enough to be potterring around our home, it's helped us recognise and address some of the those niggling habits that somehow have manifested themselves over the years. 

It's the perfect time to reset our habits and start setting new ones!

There’s an old saying, “first we make our habits and then habits make us”. Habits are not only a way of doing things, but they’re a way of thinking too. Our last blog post talked about ‘imperfections’ and how we can have negative thought patterns. These are mental habits we’ve developed over time (for all kinds of complicated reasons), and the more you take notice of them the better you’ll be able to address them.

It’s subtle and we’re not even mentally aware when we’re doing it. It’s like driving a car to an area that’s in the same direction we frequently travel. Sometimes we find ourselves ending up at our workplace when we were suppose to do school drop off first! Of course, when we realise this mistake, we “refresh” our thoughts and map out the new direction where we want to go.

It takes time, but habits can be changed as long as you believe they can be. Research has shown that it takes a minimum of 21 days to an average of 66 days to break a habit. Course this varies according from people to people but the key thing here is to begin! Here’s a few good habits to help you get the ball rolling.

1. Set small objectives and don’t be in a hurry to complete them

We can get caught in this trap of expecting to accomplish so much, and then feeling overwhelmed when we set out to do these things. The reality is we’re not superhuman, and life will get in the way of our personal projects. There’s a reason why ‘less is more’ is a common saying. No doubt the biggest thing being tackled during lockdown is home organisation. If you're tackling your pantry, wardrobe or laundry for example, have a list of things you want to achieve for the week, and then rank them from most important to least important. Concentrate on one project at a time and slowly chip away at it each day. It can be tempting to do something all at once, but that leads us to wanting to finish it in a hurry and creeping into overwhelm. 

2. Be more creative with your free time

Video games are great entertainment for kids, but spending every minute of their spare time playing them isn't an ideal scenario. We are probably not setting the best example either if our own free time are spent watching streaming services like Netflix. Before you know it, every single member of the family is sitting in front of a screen and you might be texting your husband in the lounge to talk to him. Think of things you can do together as a family, like holding Friday movie nights, Saturday games night or Sunday cooking sessions. You can get your little ones engaged by giving them creative input into things like designing a board game or making a movie of your own together. Set a time each day to go for a family walk, scoot or bikeride. Once you have a routine time and activity every day, you will be more compelled to keep the habit and breaking that screen habit.

3. Pace your days and load up your freezer

Before corona, it was a habit to purchase food on the fly and buy as needed. With lockdowns and the corona pandemic, this habit quickly changed to weekly shops, home deliveries and meal planning. 

This habit probably was easier to break as the environment called for it. However, creating a good habit around meal planning isn't as easy as changing how often you buy. There will be days you stare at the fridge wondering what to feed the hungry family tonight and kicking yourself for missing a few of those key ingredients! 

Get help changing your habit by reading up and asking people how they do it well? Cookidoo for example if you are a thermomix user, breaks down your dishes into ingredients so you always know what's needed for your shopping list. Plan also for the days when you run out of steam. Being a mother is like running a marathon, so go at your own pace.

In an ideal world we’d always be full of beans and cooking restaurant quality dishes every night but in reality, make bulk food that you can stock up in the freezer like pre-made lasagna or sausage rolls. Pop in some easy premade meals from your local delicatessen in your shopping bag that allows for easy reheating. As long as it tastes good, no one is going to judge you for it!

4. Switch off socials ESPECIALLY at night

If you want a good night’s sleep then put away your phone an hour before bed and only use it to answer phone calls. That bright screen is terrible for your eyes at night! Formats like Facebook get continually updated all the time and are designed to keep you hooked on them. It’s so easy to get stuck in a cycle of Facebook and Youtube, browsing content for hours and not even enjoying it! You might be surprised how often you waste time on social media sites until you download an app that tracks how long you’ve been using them. Don’t kid yourself, social media addiction is real and too much of it can lead to negative thoughts. There’s a cure. Find a free app that helps you block the sites, as a reminder when you subconsciously go to the social media pages without thinking.

5. Smile more

When someone smiles at you, it’s natural to want to smile back. The best thing about a smile is that it's free but it's presence can be truly heartwarming.

Make it a habit to smile more at your partner. But do it in moderation or your partner might think you've gone crazy trying to maintain a cheesy grin 24/7. Jokes aside, smiling also works on yourself too. When you wake up and look in the mirror, instead of thinking about how you’re not as young as you once were or how dark those eye bags have become, give yourself a smile. You will feel better having your own reflection smiling back and it’ll give you a more positive and fresh start to the day. And one more thing, smiling, more often than not, it's contagious! But the good kind so don't forget to keep smiling today!