4 Reasons Why Habits Are Hard To Change

Habits are hard to change. . That’s because under the surface there are lots of dynamics going on that we’re unaware of. It’s like seeing the tip of the iceberg but having no awareness of what’s going on underwater.

This challenge is true of habits that keep us from losing weight/eating healthier as well as all kinds of other habits. So as you read it, keep in mind that you can apply it to anything in your life.

Here are some reasons why old habits present such a challenge. What’s one  reason that applies to you?

Old Patterns Form Grooves in The Subconscious Mind

Let’s say your old habit is to reward yourself at night with a big piece of chocolate. The first time you ate this chocolate for a reward at the end of the day, it started to form a groove in your subconscious mind. Then every time after that when you ate the chocolate, it deepened the groove. The more you have the chocolate, the deeper the groove gets, and the more entrenched the habit becomes. It then becomes hard to break the habit, because it’s become so easy and automatic to do it.

New Habits Take Us Out of Our Comfort Zone

You eat the chocolate at night and it’s comforting. You’re now used to doing it. You feel like you deserve a treat after a hard day. But afterwards you feel guilt and shame, and it adds up to more extra pounds.

It’s become easy to use chocolate as you default when stressed and tired. If you skipped it, it would leave a gap that you might not know how to fill. It would feel strange to not allow yourself this chocolate. Plus, you’re now identified with being the size and shape that you are. It might feel uncomfortable to envision yourself slim, energetic, and eating well. If this image is uncomfortable, it will be easy to continue the old habit. That way you can continue to know who you are.

There is Secondary Gain in Keeping Old Habits

Part of you really wants to give up the chocolate, especially since your blood sugar levels are also creeping up. This habit is not helping you lose weight, which you’d like more than anything. Why can’t you just stop eating it then?

Probably there is secondary gain involved. This means that there are more benefits from keeping the habit than in giving it up. But you’re not consciously aware of this dynamic. It might be that you live alone and are bored and lonely at night, it may be that your job is totally stressful and you wish you had another one, it could be that past traumatic events in your life have not been released from your psyche, and they start to creep into your awareness when the workday is over. Whatever it is, unconsciously you are avoiding experiencing the emotions, and eating the chocolate is numbing you so you don’t have to feel it.

We First Need To Overcome Inertia

The hardest part of breaking an old habit and replacing it with a new one is inertia. It takes a lot of energy to start moving in a new direction. It’s so much easier to keep doing what you’ve always done. You can compare it to pushing a big heavy ball up a hill. It would take a lot of momentum to get it up the hill. However, once it was there it would be easy to roll it along level ground. Then you could reap the rewards of your efforts, but the hard work would have to be done first.

Next?

Which of these reasons do you identify with, and what can you do to work with it?

An example would be to work with the grooves in your subconscious mind. So every time you are about to reach for the chocolate, you could consciously affirm to yourself that being  slim and energetic is more important than eating chocolate. This would start to plant a new thought pattern and subsequent groove in your mind. You might reach for a crunchy apple instead, read a book, or go for a walk.

It would be best to start with one reason and work on it. Then later you could work on another reason. Slow, steady, unrushed and unpressured progress is best.