Aristotle once said ‘“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Like any famous or relatable quote, we can often find the truth in its phrasing via experiences we have had in our own lives. It might be that we fall into eating high-calorie foods whenever we get that craving, or we’re very used to putting off the workout regime we had hoped to keep up with. Maybe we can easily justify feeling jealous and taking that out on our partner, even when there’s no substance to really make us suspect deception.
However, negative habits needn’t be the only trouble you face as you try to better yourself each and every day. In fact, overcoming the habits that limit you can often be found in assessing what keeps you stagnant, not what brings you down. These habits are those that are much harder to deal with because you may not consider them to be negative in the first place. In this post, we hope to assess what some of those stagnant habits could be, and why assessing and improving them could lead to a much higher quality of life.
There Are Many Worthwhile Living Situations
When we are involved in our habits that cause stagnation, it’s often the case that we feel this is the only way we could possibly live. Perhaps we’re too used to dropping into the bar after work, or hanging around with the wrong people, or spending our money too quickly because we live from paycheck to paycheck and cannot do without the items we wish to spend on from a luxury point of view.
That being said, there are many worthwhile living situations to enjoy, and sometimes finding that flow of life outside of your norm can be tremendously liberating for you to experience. Perhaps instead of spending your nights tired in front of the television, you decide to shake up the flow of your decision making by reading on your porch chair. This in itself can be a change in the flow of your experience, and may help you heal and come back to yourself over time. Larger changes, such as learning to be okay with yourself for a while as you try to make new friends, can seem scary at first but can be very important. Perhaps you’ll also learn that you can live a happy life despite not being in a relationship for a time. When you open the curtains to this end, you’ll find possibility you may not have considered before.
Are You Too Cemented In Your Ways?
The easiest thing to become is cemented in your ways. But when you identify that things can change, you can move forward to something new. For example, you may wish to rent a beautiful property abroad in order to help you get out of the ‘small town mindset’ you’ve been occupying for some time. This may help you absorb a local culture, gain a new perspective on life, and finally progress in a new industry thanks to the career opportunities found there. It only takes a well-researched decision to completely change how you view the flow of your days, and how you enjoy living your life from there.
What Risks Do You Take?
What risks do you take in order to make things better? If you completely cut yourself off from risk, you’ll have a hard time experiencing anything new, profound or interesting. For example, getting back into the dating scene after some time can seem scary. It may even make you realize that you’re not as much of a heartbreaker as you used to be, and that can be a knock on your self-worth. But through that hard lesson you may learn humility, and perhaps even meet someone you were supposed to be with all along. A little risk-taking such as this can help you not only find a new direction in life, but also gain the excitement you may have been cutting yourself off from all this time.
Overcoming The ‘Should’
Too many people feel as though they ‘should’ behave in a certain way, and so limit how they want to express themselves. Perhaps being completely open with your sexual orientation was not permitted in your small community, but now you feel room to explore and engage with people you want to spend time with. Perhaps you’re just a strong bodybuilder with a job as a security guard who loves knitting and wants to be on the musical stage one day. Maybe you’re a ballet dancer who wishes to become Mr. Olympia. Overcoming the ‘should’ of your life and instead focusing on what you really want to be can help you find your natural and authentic truth in this life, and that’s very important.
With this advice, we hope you can fully overcome the habits that limit you.