THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICING HEALTHY HABITS
They say it takes about 21 days to instill a new habit, but truth be told, it takes longer.
Once a new habit is formed, it is easily maintained throughout life and practiced with little thought. The reason behind habits has more to do with just claiming that you’re ‘healthy’. Changing a bad habit into a good one–when it comes to eating, exercise, skin care, and peace of mind—can enhance your well-being and make you look and feel more youthful, and prolong longevity. Who doesn’t want that?
Creating new habits isn’t easy. It’s challenging, but it is worth it.
Rather than waiting for it to become too late to start practicing healthy habits, it’s best to be proactive and start now. Once you begin to instill healthy habits into your daily life, it will become second nature, and you’ll begin to view life and all it has to offer like you never have before.
The more healthy elements you incorporate into your life, the more improvements you’ll see in body-mind-soul. Even one small change will bring benefits; as you begin to recognize these enhancements, you’ll be motivated to do more and more. But those who go all-in—who adopt these new habits—stand to benefit the most. And the more you practice healthy habits, the easier they become.
To acquire a new habit, you not only need to be convinced at the level of your conscious mind, but you need to reprogram your subconscious so that new habits and skills are embedded. It’s like being on autopilot. This is how people learn skills that need to operate for the conscious mind to keep up.
So how long does it take to really institute a new or good habit? It all depends on how simple or complex your new habit is, how enjoyable or difficult it feels, how motivated you are to achieve the benefits of the new habit. It depends on how frequently you repeat the action during the training period; if you repeat the action six times in a week, you’ll likely learn sooner than if you repeat it just once a month. The amount of time needed to initiate the transformation and see results will vary from person to person, especially if you’re changing several things all at once. That’s why you want to give yourself ample time—about seven weeks—to make a serious effort.
Towards the end of the seven weeks, you will have acquired a new set of good habits and eliminated several bad habits, and established the foundation for your new lifestyle, one that you will need to maintain in order to achieve long-term benefits.
One day at a time, one moment at a time. Always remember to breathe.
