How habits can change your life
By Chloe Goodwin
Outside is dreary, cold, wet and just downright miserable. I get it, trust me. Last term I was really struggling with motivation. Simply leaving the house and venturing into the blizzard felt impossible. When you are stuck in the same four walls, it becomes very easy to be stuck in a slump. Resulting in zero work being completed.
I am here to provide you with a better way! Recently, I have been attempting to shift my mindset, beginning with my habits. I did not realise how much habits shape your entire existence. Firstly, my advice would be to download Atomic Habits by James Clear on audiobook; this was my first step towards breaking the cycle.
The reason I started reading this book was upon my deletion of Instagram and TikTok. We all know exactly how much time we waste doomscrolling, and yet we continue. It is literally an addiction. As one could be addicted to alcohol or drugs: we know it is damaging, but we continue to do it, because we don’t know what we will do if that way of coping isn’t there. I am here to tell you, or should I say, try to convince you, to just do it! Just do it. Delete it.
The first week was rough; I found I was quite bored, and I had to sit with my thoughts, which was odd. You’re probably thinking: Well, I do sit with my thoughts. But you don’t sit with them alone, you have a mediator, a sidekick so to speak, that helps distract you or quieten these thoughts. Having to face it alone made me realise many things. I got myself in a bad pattern of thinking, I would just pick up my phone for a numbing sense, which was only temporary, but very easily accessible. This is a dangerous mix, because what do you do when you haven’t got this accessibility to your ‘fix’? I can tell you, you realise how dependent you are, and that you need to make a change.
ask yourself: is it useful to me in any way? Or is it just ‘rotting’ my brain?
The second thing I realised, was those hours that it showed on the screentime app, that initially felt ‘fake’, where in fact very, very real. I had been wasting so much time, on something that I don’t even remember. When you are scrolling ask yourself. Can I even remember what the clip three scrolls backwards was about? Likely chance is no, and if on the rare occasion it is, ask yourself: is it useful to me in any way? Or is it just ‘rotting’ my brain?
That is enough of the symptoms, or pointing out the obvious that you already know. What I have done to fix my addiction and shift my mindset, which has thus made me more motivated. Which allows me to focus on my studies, family, friends and the things that really matter. I have completely reconstructed my mornings. I now wake up early, in the window of 6-9 am, which lets me sit with my thoughts in the morning. I get a good breakfast, a good coffee, and even look over notes before contact hours. Your morning is what makes your day, similarly to the way they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day (while this is not entirely true). I firmly believe that if you have a comfortable, productive morning, your day will follow suit.
Now you may be thinking, if you have deleted social media, what do you do with all your free time? Well in the beginning, I would absently pick up my phone but then be forced to put it down as there would be literally nothing to do on it, zero stimulation! Leading me to pick up a book! Which as an English Literature student, I did anyway, but now I don’t have the excuse that I don’t get to read anything for pleasure, on top of my academic reading. Those three plus hours per day I was wasting, I can read for pleasure. If reading isn’t your thing, you should probably retry, even non-fiction! If not, think about your hobbies which you don’t spend enough time doing.
our habits have direct influence over everything that we do, how we see the world
Another thing, I have really focused on fitness. Fitness gives you all the neurochemicals that you need: dopamine, serotonin. And, these are real versions of the neurochemicals, not the ‘fake’, or quick dump that you receive from doomscrolling. This has also made me feel confident, paired with the lack of constant comparison from social media. It is just overall positive. Real happy hormones and real people!
Shifting back to Atomic Habits, through the queue of deleting doomscrolling apps, I have been able to create good habits with the newfound time, which have impacted my confidence. And my identity, physically and mentally, through having more time to study and focusing on useful knowledge and outlets.
This is not me saying everyone must be completely extreme like me and delete all forms of social media. All I am encouraging vicariously, through help from James Clears’ Atomic Habits, is that our habits have direct influence over everything that we do, how we see the world, thus if our habits are good, likely our mindset will be: and with a good mindset, everything is possible. Motivation and discipline are honestly superpowers, especially in modern society, where these skills are disrupted by doomscrolling. So, just try being aware of it and think about what habits you can implement into your routine. That will positively impact your mindset and thus your life.
Image: Anna Shvets via Pexels
