{"id":14666,"date":"2024-01-15T12:49:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T20:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/?p=14666"},"modified":"2024-01-15T12:49:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T20:49:47","slug":"breaking-bad-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Bad Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BreakingI love making New Year’s resolutions<\/a> in an attempt at breaking bad habit. But not only are resolutions good for breaking bad habits, they help in establishing better ones.<\/p>\n

This is why the gym is always full the first week of January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, while we all stand steady in our resolve of breaking bad habits, it’s hard to stick with the good habits over an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

Especially if you’re dealing with addiction. Substance abuse addictions (to alcohol or drugs) and lifestyle addictions (to porn, gambling, food, or gaming) are very difficult to overcome. It can take many tries. And many failures.<\/p>\n

When a toddler is learning to walk and falls down, she picks herself up and tries again. In both breaking bad habits and recovering from addiction, you will experience many failures. If babies gave up, no human would be able to walk. Don’t give up either. Fall on your face, allow yourself a pity party, then get back up and try again.<\/p>\n

I’m trying to change my morning routine. In recent years I’ve reached for my phone first thing in the morning. Ostensibly to check the time and the weather. But once I have that rectangle of endless information and distractions in my hand, I go down the rabbit hole of checking my text messages, emails, and social media. And, more recently, spinning pok\u00e9 stops and catching Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

Anxiety producing? Yes. Health and happiness producing? No.<\/p>\n

I describe my attempt at breaking bad habits in my morning routine and the good habits I am embracing now over on Substack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My channel is called Vibrant Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This post is behind a paywall.<\/p>\n

It costs less than a cup of coffee to subscribe. Most of the posts are free for the first three weeks. Not this one though. Since it’s more personal and I’m maybe feeling a tad bit vulnerable about confessing to my need for breaking bad habits, I put it behind a paywall.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, so you won’t have loaned me your eyeballs for nothin’, three books that have helped me in my journey of breaking bad habits:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. James Clear’s 2018 Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes Remarkable Results<\/em><\/a> (Avery)Clear’s book is excellent, informative, and highly readable. It’s a must for anyone who is in process breaking bad habits. It’s sold over 15 million copies worldwide. For good reason.<\/li>\n
  2. Charles Duhigg’s 2014 The Power of Habit<\/em> <\/a>(Random House)Another fascinating and educational read. This is more of a Big Think than a how-to book. But the combination of narrative and practical advice are very helpful for anyone working on breaking bad habits.<\/li>\n
  3. The Addiction Spectrum<\/em><\/a> (HarperOne, 2018) by Paul Thomas (aka my co-author) n meBad habits are not usually thought of as addictions. But if you find that you are unable to reach your goal of breaking bad habits, you may very well be addicted. Our book about addiction explores the idea that we are all susceptible to addiction and addictive behaviors and when you support the whole person (mind, body, and soul), you can move from the severe end of the addiction spectrum to the mild end. That’s what I’m trying to do with my phone use. I feel like I’m struggling with digital addiction<\/a>. While it is true that being on my phone isn’t ruining my life the way an alcohol addiction might, it is causing me anxiety, unhappiness, and feelings of unworthiness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Related articles:<\/strong>
    \n    Bring Mindfulness to Every Habit<\/a>
    \n    How to Meditate<\/a>
    \n    7 Secrets to a Vibrant Life<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I love making New Year’s resolutions in an attempt at breaking bad habit. But not only are resolutions good for breaking bad habits, they help in establishing better ones. This is why the gym is always full the first week of January. However, while we all stand steady in our resolve of breaking bad habits, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[532,8162],"tags":[8167,12929,12930],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking Bad Habits — Jennifer Margulis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"January is a great time to renew yourself. If you're keen on breaking bad habits and recovering from addiction, now is the time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking Bad Habits — Jennifer Margulis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January is a great time to renew yourself. If you're keen on breaking bad habits and recovering from addiction, now is the time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jennifer Margulis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-15T20:49:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/gerbil-wheel-large.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1905\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JenniferMarguli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JenniferMarguli\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\",\"name\":\"andrew.bolsinger@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/favicon.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"andrew.bolsinger@gmail.com\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Margulis\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/gerbil-wheel-large.jpg\",\"width\":1573,\"height\":1905,\"caption\":\"Breaking bad habits is hard. If you want to stop being a gerbil on the treadmill of your life, here are 3 books that will help. | Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking Bad Habits — Jennifer Margulis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-15T20:49:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-15T20:49:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"January is a great time to renew yourself. If you're keen on breaking bad habits and recovering from addiction, now is the time.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"NewsArticle\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/67e61047e1948300049a109cfc61e3bd\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking Bad Habits\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-15T20:49:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-15T20:49:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#webpage\"},\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4f4b9f697431bff90dbf687b6ae55ccb\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#primaryimage\"},\"keywords\":\"addiction,bad habits,New Year's resolutions\",\"articleSection\":\"Health & Wellness,Vibrant Living\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/breaking-bad-habits\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2024\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#\/schema\/person\/67e61047e1948300049a109cfc61e3bd\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e01629bab8cc8e8d5aa55b861a6d6752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D.\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an investigative journalist, book author, and Fulbright awardee. She is the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family, co-author (with Paul Thomas, M.D.) of The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, and The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14668,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666\/revisions\/14668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}