Don't let the holidays wreck your habits!

I posted a reel about the holiday season and habits. If you missed it you can check it out here. The holiday season can be a wrecker of habits. We see evidence of this every January as people talk about wanting to get back on track after the craziness of the holiday season. You know all the slogans, "new year, new you", and all the things that go along with that from the gym memberships, to the diet plans. It's big business.

I've fallen into the trap too and had my share of holiday gluttony. It used to happen every year and I relied on the fact that l would get back on track in January. But over the years I've made sure to change this behavior as it always leads to feeling sick, run-down, exhausted, and bloated. It never felt good and left me wondering why I would ever choose this for myself.

Just because the holidays roll around doesn't mean our habits and routines have to fly out the window. We have to learn to let go of our all-or-nothing attitude and stop thinking if we can't continue our habits as we have been doing them then why bother at all? We allow one decision or one day to derail us and end up doing more and more things that don't serve us.

What we repeat becomes a habit, whether it serves us or not. Over-indulging during the holidays has become a habit for us. We have programmed ourselves to let it all go at this time of year. But here's the thing, we don't have to choose between having fun and staying steady with our habits and routines. We can do both!

The habits that you will keep for a lifetime are meant to work with your life, not make it more challenging. So what if instead of throwing it all out the window during the holiday season, we kept doing some of what helps us feel good?

Confucius said, "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

Part of the key to creating sustainable habits is to make sure they fit into your lifestyle. Every day, every week, and every month are not the same. But we learn to adapt and pivot as life changes. You don't need to be perfect with your habits but, you just need to stay consistent, every little bit counts.

Ditching the behaviors that help you feel good just creates more overwhelm and stress and leaves you feeling more uncomfortable. There can be a balance between having fun, overindulging, and maintaining a little consistency. Imagine walking into January without feeling like you had to start all over, again. You could let go of the negative self-talk and create consistency with habits that help you feel good!

I like to make sure I drink 16oz of water first thing in the morning. It’s a great way to help me start my day hydrated. But it also has a domino effect. Because I start hydrated, I don’t over caffeinate myself, which leads to better food choices, giving me more energy throughout the day, which helps me to move my body more, which leads to a natural wind down at night, helping me get to bed at a reasonable hour.

While I may not always be perfect with my habits, I always remember how I feel when I do the things that make me feel good vs how I feel when I don’t. That feeling is a good motivator most days.

Every little thing you do counts and has more of an effect on the rest of the day than you may think. Life will always come at you, whether it’s the holidays, illnesses, injuries, or any other life events, but you can figure things out without giving up what's important to you. We create habits that we can do even on our worst days, not only on our best days.