What to do if You and Your Habits Were on a Break?

I feel like Ross shouting at my habits “We were on a break!” or maybe my habits were yelling at me? Not sure which, either way, we parted ways for a while. I had good intentions, and I swear this month I thought I was going to rock at everything. But I just crashed and burned. So what to do if you and your habits were on a break? I used a simple shift in mindset to recapture the flame after a habit break-up.

Is It Just February Blues?

I don’t know if it is just February blues or if there is something else going on, but I know I am not the only one who feels it. Today my boss commented (by the way, I have a job too!) that he feels like it is February blues. He said that all the things to look forward to are far away that it’s hard to get excited about them. So it’s a time between events and just feels, well, blah.

My habit tracker shows that I feel the same way. This blog post is supposed to coincide with the middle of the month (give or take a couple of days) and I am nearly a week late just writing it. I do have good news…in just the past couple of days, I have managed to crawl out of the crazy unmotivated slump. But that wasn’t easy. You can read how a simple list turned things around for me here.

Falling Off the Wagon is my Specialty – Getting Back on is Not

Falling off the wagon per se is my specialty. I am good at starting something, but continuing when I mess up or get off track is a whole other story. I feel like the wagon runs off while I am off smelling roses and continues faster than I can run, so I just pretend like I was never on that ride.

Change of Mindset After a Break-up With Your Habits

This whole running after the wagon mindset changed when I read a book by Gretchen Rubin called Better Than Before. She suggested that if you are going to have planned break in your habits, then plan a time when you come back. I figure that if I have an accidental break, I just tell myself that we were on a break, but not to worry Rachel habits, I am back and we will live happily ever after.

This change has helped me immensely move on from incidental breaks and just pick up where I left off as though I never missed a thing. So using that mindset… it doesn’t matter how terrible the last six days of February, here I come!

By the way, I am trying a new layout for March. I’ll give you a little sneak peek even though it’s still in pencil mode. Oh, and just so you know, I still do dishes every day so at least that habit stuck, it’s these new habits that are causing me trouble.

Question:

I’ve never met a single person who hasn’t broken up with their habits at some time or another. So I’d like to know how you handle your habit break-ups. What strategy do you take?

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia