Whether they’re good or bad, everyone has habits. Habits help to shape your life and can either push you toward success or pull you back from it. Negative habits can quickly become problematic when they feed addictive tendencies. Addiction is a chronic disorder that is characterized by compulsive substance-seeking despite the consequences involved. The onset of addiction often occurs from the creation of a negative habit.
A primary reason you may struggle to break away from the cycle of addiction is engaging in negative habits that feed your dependency on a substance. It is essential to identify these habits and recognize how they may be impacting your state of addiction and replace them with positive habits.
What Is a Habit?
Habits are repetitive behaviors or routines you engage in without conscious thought or effort. They can have positive or negative consequences and have a significant influence on physical and mental health, productivity levels, and quality of life. Habits develop through repetition and reinforcement. Once you repeat a behavior repeatedly, the brain creates neural pathways, making it easier to repeat that same action in the future. Over time, these neural pathways become stronger, making breaking the habit more challenging.
Negative Habits That Feed Addiction
The habits that feed addiction are patterns or behaviors that provide temporary relief but ultimately cause harm. Various habits tend to feed an addiction. Understanding what these habits are can help you recognize the ones you tend to engage in. Once you’re aware, you can implement alternative habits to counteract them.
Lack of Self-Care
Addiction can have a devastating effect on both the body and mind. Taking care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating nutritiously, and exercising regularly are essential in maintaining mental clarity and physical well-being. Neglecting to care for yourself may lead to an increased stress level, which can quickly lead to addictive cravings.
To combat a negative habit of self-neglect, work to prioritize your self-care and create healthy habits. Schedule time in your day to exercise, meditate, or engage in other stress-relieving activities. Prioritize getting enough sleep by setting a strict bedtime and wake-up time each day. Pay attention to your eating habits. Be sure you are feeding your body with the nutrients it needs to function at its best.
You may want to consider keeping a self-care schedule. Planning out your meals for the week on a paper menu or meal prepping can help ensure you are fueling your body with healthy foods. Having a set schedule assists in developing healthy sleep habits. Schedule a specific time each day to sit down and meditate. Try writing down a morning or evening routine with some key self-care habits included. Having it in writing will help you hold yourself accountable.
Negative Thinking
Repetitive negative thoughts can cause a cycle of self-doubt and low self-esteem. These thoughts can trigger stress and anxiety, which increases the desire to use substances again. It can be easy to get stuck in the cycle of negative thought patterns, as each thought that arises and is not addressed reinforces the negativity as new neural structures are formed.
To combat negative thinking, try to incorporate positive affirmations and daily gratitude into your routine. Write down three things you are grateful for each day, then repeat these affirmations to yourself each morning. Try to come up with something different each time rather than using the same few gratitude points repeatedly.
You can also combat negative thought patterns by engaging in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT works to help you address your thought patterns and become aware of the impact your thoughts have on your daily life. As you notice negative thoughts arising, attempt to stop them in the moment and rephrase them into positive thoughts. For example, you may think, “I can’t do this anymore. I give up.” To reframe this, try thinking, “I may be having a hard time with this, but with each failure, I am one step closer to success.” Adjusting your dialogue can help you to create an environment for positive thoughts and actions to thrive.
Procrastination
Procrastinating can increase stress levels drastically. This can become a trigger for relapse. By continuously procrastinating, you are robbing yourself of the motivation and productivity to complete your responsibilities. This makes it even more difficult to break free from the cycle of addiction. In recovery, there is no time for procrastination. Procrastination is often a sign of a lack of self-control. As self-control is necessary for managing addiction, it is important to overcome procrastination.
To overcome procrastination, you may choose to break larger tasks into more manageable sections. Use a planner or a schedule to help yourself stay organized. As your organization improves, your accountability will likely improve as well. Set realistic deadlines and reward yourself when tasks are completed to reinforce your motivation.
Poor Time Management
Ineffectively managing your time can also lead to the development of stress and an increased feeling of anxiety. This can result in a lack of productivity and motivation. Ultimately it can lead to more procrastination as well. If you find that managing your time is difficult for you, you may want to consider applying time management techniques to your everyday life.
To manage time, you can use similar steps as those regarding procrastination. When scheduling, prioritize the tasks you need to complete first. This will ensure you complete the most important tasks first and stay on schedule. Set realistic deadlines in order to hold yourself accountable, eliminate distractions, and focus on one task at a time.
Common Behavioral Problems
Not only is it important to address the daily habits you choose to engage in, but you must address the behaviors and characteristics behind them as well. You may try to blame a specific habit for your setback when that habit stems from a behavioral pattern that has not been addressed. Observing some of the common behavioral problems that feed addiction can provide you with further insight into your situation.
Avoidance
This particular behavior is especially concerning when regarding a relapse. You may find that you tend to ignore or deny the problems surrounding your addiction. For issues that are not directly related to substance use, you may turn to substances to drown out your emotions rather than deal with the issue head-on. Unfortunately, this avoidance behavior often makes the situation worse and can reinforce the addiction you are trying to get rid of.
A major way to overcome avoidance is to allow yourself to accept your current state of addiction. While you have likely gone through a majority of the hardships in recovery during treatment, your journey is not over yet. There are always potential setbacks that are important to be aware of. Keep realistic expectations for yourself and accept your current state. This is essential in overcoming avoidant behaviors.
Impulsivity
Impulsive behavior tends to feed addiction as well. If you find that you often act impulsively, you may be more at risk for engaging in substance use without hesitation. When acting impulsively, it can be difficult to assess the consequences involved with these actions. This behavior often results in seeking immediate gratification rather than putting forth the effort to reach a higher reward.
To overcome your impulsive behaviors, take a moment to stop and think before you act. When making a decision or speaking under the influence of intense emotions, ensure you take a deep breath and consider the choice you are about to make. Oftentimes, requiring yourself to stop and think about the consequences involved with your choice is enough to deter you from making that decision.
Perfectionism
To many people, perfectionism seems like a desirable trait. However, perfectionism has the potential to harm your confidence. This trait can lead to an unhealthy cycle of self-criticism and self-doubt. In recovery, you are setting various goals for yourself. If you are setting goals that are out of reach, your confidence can quickly fizzle out.
A lack of confidence and poor self-esteem can lead to substance use as a form of coping. If you set goals in recovery and are never able to quite reach them, then what is the point of continuing to try and maintain sobriety?
Overcoming a perfectionist mindset can allow you to have realistic expectations for your recovery journey. Nobody is perfect, and the process of recovery will be far from perfection. If you are not willing to take risks and try things in recovery, you may not allow yourself to find the therapeutic resources that can most benefit you.
Responding to Social Pressures
When you are in social situations, there is a high possibility of being presented with environmental triggers or peer pressure that can feed your addictive tendencies. Humans are social creatures. We like to interact with others to establish a sense of validation and feel that we belong. If you are in a social setting where others are drinking or using substances, you may start to feel obligated to join in.
Not only is a desire to fit in a risk factor that could cause you to indulge, but impulsivity can also cause you to quickly conform to social norms. Also, if you make connections with these groups, then you are likely to want to go back and continue spending time with them. The individuals you choose to surround yourself with can have a major impact on your success in recovery. Ensure you are being mindful of the effects your social circle has, and try to find peers who support your sobriety. Take stock of your interpersonal relationships to ensure they are contributing to your recovery positively.
Leave Negative Habits and Behaviors Behind
Negative habits and behaviors play a significant role in feeding an addiction, making it more difficult to break away from this cycle. Self-defeating thoughts, procrastination, poor time management skills, avoidance tactics, and impulsivity can all lead to continued use of substances. By recognizing and replacing your negative habits and behaviors with positive ones, you can set yourself up for success in recovery.
If you reinforce positive behaviors, you are allowing yourself to succeed in your sober living journey. Work to prioritize self-care. Try to use positive affirmations, express your gratitude, prioritize your responsibilities, eliminate distractions, and accept your current state of addiction at that time. By applying some of these skills to combat any negative tendencies, you can stop feeding your addiction and slowly watch it wither away.
Addiction itself is a type of habit. We often engage in various negative habits that eventually lead to the onset of substance use disorder (SUD). By addressing some of our negative habits and replacing them with healthy habits, we can slowly break out of the cycle of addiction. Review some of the common habits that occur along with addiction and try to develop an understanding of how these habits can play a role in your substance use. After analyzing these habits, you can implement new healthy habits that help to reinforce your sobriety. To learn more about the negative habits that influence addiction, reach out to Real Recovery Sober Living at (727) 290-9156.
