20 {Sneaky} Negative Habits That You Should Break ASAP

How would your life experience change or improve if you stopped doing the following? 

1. Checking your phone right when you wake up in the morning. Buy a real alarm and put your phone in another room if you have to! 

2. Judging someone before you know their story. In the words of MTV Diary, "You think you know, but you have no idea." 

3. Brushing your teeth too hard. The struggle is real. Your sweet teeth + gums don't deserve it!

4. Making excuses for the selfish/negative people in your life. Why do you feel the need to justify their actions?

5. Using social media to distract you from your feelings and/or the present moment. We're all guilty of this. 

6. Eating those last two bites when you're already full. They're always the bites that make you feel bad and ruin the experience. 

7. Beating yourself up about not making it to yoga. This is so not yogic!

8. Putting energy into things that don't matter to you. Your time and energy is precious--why waste it? 

9. Texting while you drive. I know it's just this once and just for a second and you're doing it safely and there are no cars around...but just NO. 

10. Feeling responsible for filling the silence in all conversations. 

11. Giving up before you've started or tried. This applies to anything and everything--a project, an idea, a relationship, a further degree or certification, a new skill, etc. 

12. Calling yourself fat/ugly/stupid/pathetic in your head. Read this post for more on this topic. 

13. Drinking soda. Any and all of it. Soft drinks are the cigarettes of our generation! Bleh. 

14. Saying yes to everything. [Saying no is an art form.]

15. Feeling guilty for saying no when you do. [This takes time.] 

16. Staying in conversations that make you feel uncomfortable or icky. If it doesn't feel right, excuse yourself or change the subject. 

17. Doing that yoga pose/exercise/movement that hurts when you do it. Not worth it!

18. Getting into bed "early" and then playing on your phone for 20 minutes. In the grand scheme of things, this costs you way more than 20 minutes of sleep or relaxation...

19. Keeping the TV on as "background noise. We all need a little quiet sometimes. 

20. Forgetting to take care of yourself. It's just not sustainable or okay and I won't have it! When it comes to taking care of yourself, you must be selfish. 

And for goodness sake, if you recognize some of these habits in yourself, please don't beat yourself up about it! The first step to making a change is recognizing the behavior and becoming aware that you do it [apologies for the psychobabble]. 

You know why I was able to make this list? Because I do about, oh, I don't know, 92% of these things. 

So what do you say, shall we try to break these habits that are bringing nothing but negativity into our lives? 

[Beteedubs, I think you'll get a kick out of the fact that when I was telling Ben about this post and some of the habits that I was listing, I read him #1 and he responded with, "I don't think that's a bad habit. I think it's a good thing." Who do you think looks at their phone first thing in the morning in our household? Teehee ;)]

Here's to a mindful day full of habit-breaking!