#2013alive: alive Staff Share Their Habit-Breaking Tactics

It’s week 2 for November’s 12 Months of Wellness challenge, and this month’s theme is all about breaking our bad habits. This week, we’re replacing a bad habit with a good one.

Earlier in the week, I shared my story about how I replaced my bad habit of nail-biting with the good habit of regular, natural manicures. But enough about me—it’s time for alive staff to weigh in and tell us their stories!

Jennifer Procyshyn, Account Manager: “I made the commitment a year ago to drink less coke as I used to drink one a day. Now I have one or two a week and I drink water with lemon or just plain water instead.”

Karla Gursche, Advertising Account Manager: “We recently replaced regular butter for organic butter. This was our next step in moving to healthier oils.”

Anonymous FOMO aliver: “Bad habits ... eh? I guess I’ve had a few over the years. One of my bad habits I have been conquering lately would be time management! I seem to like to do it all—some might even say I have FOMO (fear of missing out). So in the past I would try to attend all the events and overbook myself with people and places to go and see. Now I am facing my FOMO problem and starting to choose one event rather than both and enjoy my time more with friends and meetings, as I’m less rushed trying to go from one event to the other or one meeting to the next. This allows me to be better and more realistic with my time.”

Sandi Gauvin , Senior Editor: “Many moons ago, in fact a lifetime ago, I was a smoker. Yes, a dyed-in-the-wool, two-packs-a-day nicotine habit had me firmly in its grip. I’d tried to stop a few times, but that grip was a strong one, and breaking free wasn’t as easy as I thought.

“Until one morning—after a particularly eventful night before. We had been saying goodbye to a long-time friend who was moving to Europe to live. Our friend had kindly brought the wine—a very dry, very Hungarian red that we’d never heard of before. We politely sipped our first glass, but as the evening progressed—and long after dinner was finished—the refills got easier to imbibe—until we’d downed three bottles among the three of us. We wined, dined, smoked, laughed, and cried until the wee hours and then said our goodbyes. Unfortunately, the next day was a workday and the alarm clock rattled me out of a deep sleep—and into hangover hell, the likes of which I’d never experienced before. That was the day I quit smoking—and dry Hungarian wine—forever!”

When I asked Sandi what she replaced her habit with, she told me, “Mineral water and dark chocolate (organic and free trade, of course)!” Well done, Sandi!

Colleen Grant, Editor: “When I was in school, I formed a habit of responding to stress by watching terrible reality TV shows—but this wasn’t exactly therapeutic. Yoga classes a few times per week not only cured me of my reliance on pseudo-celebrities’ drama, but were also a more mindful way to de-stress. These days, I may watch the occasional reality show—I just can’t quit those crazy Kardashians!—but it’s no longer a trigger response.”

Join us!

Have you broken a bad habit by replacing it with a good habit?  Let us know on Facebook or Twitter, using the hashtag #2013alive. And don’t forget to download our November goal sheet.