3 Bad Habits To Kick In 2022 (And How To Not Fall Back Into Them)
be your best in 2022
We all went into 2020 bright eyed and bushy tailed only to come out the other end chewed up and stepped on - and not much better can be said for 2021. The hard yet empowering truth is that no matter what may come your way in 2022, how good or bad your year will be is determined by your outlook, attitude, and daily habits.
Everyone has their own bad habits they’d like to kick, but there are three especially tough ones that nearly everybody gets stuck in - ones that I managed to kick in 2021. Below is a list of these habits, how I broke out of them, and most importantly, how I managed to not fall back into them.
3. WASTING TIME ON MY PHONE
The average person spends roughly 5 hours a day on mobile devices. Crazy, I know - but it’s understandable seeing as smartphones and apps are designed to get you to use them as much as possible. The more time a person spends on an app, the more the app developers can charge for ad space; it really all boils down to money, but at what cost to humanity?
Studies upon studies have shown that smartphone addiction leads to depression and anxiety along with a plethora of other negative impacts on your mental health.
Use the new year to take your attention off your phone and onto your mental health.
There are two simple tricks that reduced my daily use from roughly 3-4 hours a day to less than 45 minutes. First, change the passwords to your social media accounts to something long and complicated that you could never hope to memorize, and write it down on a piece of paper. After that, delete the social media apps off of your phone. That way, if you crack and download the app again, you won’t be able to log back in.
2. Eating Late
I used to eat one carrot cake a week, and I always had it right before bedtime. There’s nothing like kicking back, eating cake, and watching dumb YouTube videos after a long day’s work - but there’s also nothing like watching my waistline slowly grow three sizes bigger…
It’s common knowledge that eating late reduces your quality of sleep, is a big factor in weight gain, and also results in a groggy morning the next day.
The short satisfaction of eating cake while watching movie recaps is not worth the subsequent and compounding consequences.
I cut this habit down drastically simply by choosing to not buy cake anymore. When the urge arose, I didn’t have the option to give into it. Sure, once in a while I popped a bag of popcorn and indulged, but I noticed that my quality of sleep suffered the next morning and eventually valued my health over the immediate gratification.
1. Too Much TV
Spending too much time on TV and scrolling too much on your phone is similar, but different. With TV, you’re subject to regular intervals of advertisements that ultimately influence your decision making and subconscious mind to consume and spend endlessly that creates a sense of emptiness that can never be satisfied.
It goes without saying that watching the news does not help your peaceful enjoyment of life. Just like smartphone apps, news programs are designed to grab your attention; the difference is that the news does this by leveraging fear and confusion. For obvious reasons, this will lead to negative repercussions that last throughout the rest of the day and into the next.
This may be extreme, but I sold my TV in 2021. I totally removed the option to even use it and it worked like a charm. Instead I decided to spend time with my dog, begin reading books again, calling loved ones, and spending time with my friends. Instead of switching my face from my smartphone to my TV, which ultimately is screen to screen, I focused more on the beautiful world that was always there.
Although it may not seem like much, these three bad habits made a dramatically positive impact on my mental health, outlook on life, and relationships with those I cared about. They do involve a certain level of discipline, but there’s an old saying that goes something like, “Discipline equals freedom”. (Pro-tip: It’s true)
Would you like to spend another year giving your attention away to faceless corporations and soulless computer screens, or would you rather reclaim your attention, live in the moment, and expand your awareness in the coming months?
The choice is yours and always has been.
Good luck, and Happy New Year!
All the best,
Dan
