Let’s talk about Habit and Addiction…….
There are many different views out there on the various aspects of addiction and bad habits. From what it is, how it affects our brains to what we should do to change our lives.
Our model is all about choice. The way we look at it is that you weren’t born with this particular behaviour so somewhere along the way you chose to do it (consciously or sub-consciously). If you learnt to do it, guess what,,,,,,,,,,,,you can unlearn too!!!!
We prefer to say a habit that you want to change, that isnt working for you anymore, rather than addiction. I personally do not want to have an addiction or be an ex addict. Those words conjure up so many negative connotations, for the person but also within society. I am not a fan of labels, I like to name the behaviour not the person. I prefer to say that I used to do certain things, behave in a certain way, that wasn’t useful for me or others. What I did was recognize this and change my behaviour so I could be the person I wanted to be. I wanted to have choice and control.
I know this may not sit well with some people. But this is another option, a model of thinking. You don’t have to agree with everything we say to still get the benefits of the techniques. In our experience we have found that people may need to try many different approaches until they find the one that works for them. We are simply offering another way to help you live the life you want.
So it is all about choice. YOU choose that you want to change your life, YOU choose to do the work and YOU believe that you can change. Change can be quick and can be easy but you will need to work at maintaining that change. Integrating the techniques into everyday life until they become habits, its all about learning new good habits.
One of the questions I get asked a lot is how long does it take to change a habit and there are a lot of people out there saying it takes 21 days. I might even have said this myself many moons ago. However this isnt fact. The answer isnt simple, because we are all different. Research tells us it can be anything from 3 weeks to 9 months. Also if you create a new habit with one thing in 3 weeks, doesnt mean you will with another.
But the good news is, repetition, persistence and patience will all help you.
So if you are ready to make that choice feel free to contact me on Facebook and Twitter to find out more.
Stephanie Chivers is a habit and addiction specialist for more information contact www.ichange21.com
