We are all creatures of habit so establishing a new routine can take a little time, especially if we are substituting unhealthy behaviours for healthy ones.
Whilst the first step is absolutely vital, it is persistence that ensures new habits and routines become established. This is why perseverance is so important, even when you don’t feel like it or things get tough.
When beginning to replace an unhealthy habit with a new healthier habit, we are having to create new neural pathways in our brains.
Think of it as like being in a jungle. The unhealthy habit can be seen as a recognised path through the jungle, we’re familiar with it and we keep following it. If we want to create a new healthier habit, we will need to forge a new path in a different direction through the jungle. This will involve perseverance, taking one step at a time, gradually clearing the way to make a new path.
The good news is once we regularly travel along the new path, the jungle will take over the old path so that it is no longer visible thereby creating the new habit in place of the old.
So keep going.
No matter how much you may feel like progress is slow, some days you just can’t face it, or you feel like it would just be easier to throw in the towel. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.