Wellness in the time of COVID-19 - Part 8
Welcome back everyone. This is our last instalment in this series on wellbeing. It seems a fitting time to start to wrap things up as restrictions begin to ease. This week I wanted to talk about habits. A habit is a behaviour than tends to happen repeatedly and they are often subconscious, for instance a bad habit of mine is biting my lip when I’m nervous. For others it’s biting their nails, or twirling their hair, grinding their teeth etc. Some research suggests that habits drive up to 45% of our actions in life (Neal et al, 2006). Habits can be good or bad, and we all have them.
For those who find mornings a struggle, habits I recommend are laying out your clothes and packing your bag the night before, making your bed in the morning, and eating breakfast every day. These habits can help to mentally prepare you for action. If you start the day disorganised, you may carry the flustered feeling with you all day. On the rare occurrence that I’ve slept in and haven’t prepared, rushing around makes me feel frazzled until I get back into routine. If mornings aren’t the issue for you, think about adding an extra healthy habit during the day. As an example, I’ve been trying to incorporate more fruit into my diet, and the habit I’m trying to form is having a piece of fruit with my morning tea (instead of biscuits or something else sweet).
Many of you may have heard of the book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, written by Stephen Covey. The main idea is to gain self-mastery through a transition from dependence to independence. The book also outlines a very helpful “4 square” model of important/urgent prioritisation. It is a very in-depth analysis of habits and a great resource if you want to dig deeper.
During the last few months many of us may have changed our habits, both positive and negative. Perhaps we’ve been taking more time for ourselves and feeling less pressure to constantly socialise, maybe doing more regular exercise and walking more often. Using the car less, keeping the house cleaner. Or perhaps we’ve been stress-eating more, drinking more alcohol, and spending more time on screens.
As things slowly transition to a “new normal” now is a good time to reflect - what useful habits do you want to continue? What unhelpful habits should we leave behind? Stress-eating, which is a subconscious coping mechanism for me, and negative self-talk (which I’ve been more than guilty of lately), are habits I want to leave behind. The good habit of regularly flexing my creative muscle through writing is one I want to continue. I have also been reading before bed every night and finally made a dint in my unread book collection. I’ve been listing three things I’m grateful for every day. I’ve increased my weight-based training exercises. And I’ve had better sleep hygiene too.
Hopefully my little articles have sparked an interest in healthy habits you can continue, well beyond the pandemic and the year.
Last week’s picture was taken in Scotland on a cold, dreary classic Scottish day. This week’s picture was taken on my back balcony. We may not be able to physically travel to and enjoy the places I’ve featured in my articles at the moment, but remember that beauty lies closer than you think, even on your back door step.
-A
Neal D, Wood W, Quinn J Habits - A Repeat Performance Current Directions in Psychological Science Volume: 15 Issue: 4 pp198-202
