Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have vices. For some of us, they might be some sort of addiction in the form of smoking or gambling. For others, it may be some form of pleasurable activity or hobby like gaming or social media use that ultimately wastes times and keeps us from enjoying our lives to the fullest extent. Either way, even seemingly harmless habits can have huge impacts on our well-being if we don’t acknowledge them and find ways to remove them from our lives. Most of the time, the answer isn’t as simple as “go cold turkey,” either. Overcoming vices doesn’t mean flipping a switch and making a change, but rather taking a series of steps to ensure your success. Regardless of what you’re currently trying to beat in your own personal life, keep the following three tips in the back of your mind.
Replace Your “Bad” Behavior
Sometimes the best way to beat a bad habit is by replacing it with some other sort of hobby or behavior. For example, smokers can replace traditional cigarettes with vaping by finding the best ejuice that suits their taste. This allows the smoker to wean themselves off of cigarettes while also saving money and finding more free time by not restricting themselves to constant breaks to go outdoors. Another good example is the case of formerly addicted gamers finding a healthy outlet through weight lifting or sports. By “gamifying” their workouts through reaching distance, step or strength goals, they essentially take their need for points and high scores and turn them into something more productive. The same rules could be applied to someone with a social media addiction turning to reading or writing. It doesn’t matter what your vice is: you need to replace that former time spent with something else. Otherwise you’ll find yourself twiddling your thumbs and much more likely to fall back into your former habits.
Rethink Your Personal Relationships
While the responsibility to remove vices from your life is totally on your shoulders, the fact remains that people you’re close to can contribute to your problems. If you acknowledge that some of your personal relationships are contributing to your dependency on a device, you have a choice to make. That is, either have a heart to heart about your problems or consider removing them from your life. These decisions aren’t easy, but avoiding toxic relationships goes hand in hand with dealing with your vices.
Look at Your Vices Objectively
Finally, perhaps one of the best way to deal with a vice is to look at it objectively. That is, remove yourself from the equation and realize how much time, money or energy that your vices are costing you. For example, perhaps you’re spending thousands of dollars per year on cigarettes or dozens of hours per week stuck on Facebook without realizing it. Keep a journal of your day, breaking down where you’re spending your time and money, respectively. Once you understand the numbers objectively, you can better understand where your energy is going and how that energy can be better spent. This experience can be absolutely eye-opening and ultimately drive you to change your ways. Getting rid of your vices isn’t easy, but it can be done when you understand the root of the problem. These three tips can help you hone in on exactly what you need to do to improve your well-being and get your life back on track.