At the start of a new year, some people choose to start over by breaking a bad habit. In some countries it is very popular to make “New Year's resolutions”. But many again close the year and decide to do the same. Has it ever happened to you? Yes, bad habits are hard to break.
WHY DO WE HAVE BAD HABITS?
There are basically two reasons: (1) the impact on our environment and (2) various weaknesses that we are born with and the personality defects that we develop.
Our surroundings - including where we live, how we grew up, what types of friends we have, even what we want to have fun with - all of this definitely affects the types of habits we form. Furthermore, most people, when they are honest, agree that we too are born with a natural tendency to do what is wrong.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE MOTIVE?
We must have a good reason - an incentive - to break it. There are many things that can motivate. Sometimes the prospect of a reward is enough. It is known that a child's promise to wear a new dress or pair of ice skates to break the bad habit of biting their nails can produce surprising results.
Taking care of your well-being can be a powerful incentive. A person may know that smoking is harmful to their health and yet they will not stop. However, if you start to feel short of breath, accompanied by suspected chest pain, and your doctor tells you that smoking is to blame, your self-esteem may be an incentive to quit.
Love for others can also be motivating. For example, a young single person who wastes his money gambling may be ready to run out of food and clothing. But if you are married, one of your abandoned children may beg you, "Daddy, I'm hungry and there is no food at home!" Love for your family can keep you from playing. It is this fear of others that can cause someone to give up a habit that they feel bothers others, a habit that may have been acquired in their environment or previous studies.
Sometimes, however, the love for yourself and for others fails. However, there is another type of love that offers an even greater incentive and has succeeded where others have not.
WHAT IS THE STRONGEST INCENTIVE?
This type of love can be illustrated by the words that a mother said to her daughter. The girl really wanted to play the piano, but now she regretted: "How I hate this eternal exercise!" The mother replied: “Do you think that little by little it will be good to entertain the father when he comes out of the office tired! You know how much he loves music. So keep calm baby for daddy's sake "The boy never forgot those words" for daddy's sake. It gave him extra motivation to do what he already had in his heart. He loved daddy!
Likewise, loving Heavenly Father can be the greatest incentive to give up the habits you don't like.
WHERE TO START
Try to change this because our environment affects us a lot. It doesn't necessarily mean we are moving, but it does mean paying attention to what we allow to affect our senses. Are there things in our home that can cause us to continue our bad habit? Get rid of them!
Isn't it true that sometimes when you're around rude people you talk loudly? On the other hand, it is also contagious when you are surrounded by calm and self-controlled people. Would reading books or force-watching TV shows or movies make it easier or more difficult? In order to overcome some bad habits, we may need to replace some of our current “friends” with new ones and avoid certain types of entertainment.