New Year, New Habits

Happy 2022 Equinox family! 

It almost seems cliché to begin the New Year by contemplating what habits and patterns we wish to change but, in some ways, there is never a better time to reset. Whether it’s our physical health and diet, our mental patterns or our relationships and dreams, January is a great time to try some new things and learn more about ourselves as we experiment. 

But when it comes to forming new habits for the new year, many of us fall foul of common pitfalls. Personally, I have an extreme lack of patience which means that if I don’t see results in a short space of time, I tend to lose interest and give up sooner than I should. I know many others who fall back into old habits or old addictions when mental or emotional stress sets in as January starts to get underway and we become busier in our lives. 

They are called habits for a reason. They are habitual behaviours and thinking that become set in our neurological patterns and it takes patience and self-awareness to change and transform them. 

So, here are some of my tips for forming new habits for the new year and having new opportunities to help lead a healthier lifestyle. 

Strive for balance, not perfection

How many times have you started a new year by setting resolutions that you fail to follow through? Either we find our new habits too hard to embed in our lives (lives that are geared around the old ones), or we discover when we try something else that we simply don’t enjoy it as much. What’s the secret on how to keep a new year’s resolution? This is where balance comes in. 

Why not try to gradually introduce a new habit, food choice, exercise class or comfort challenge, instead of striving to switch 100% from one way of acting all at once? Add in a little of something new every week – like habit homeopathy! 

This way you can stop beating yourself up for not achieving your new resolution perfectly every day and allow yourself the indulgence of an old treat from time to time without feeling like a failure. 

Be kind to yourself

Are you one of those people who beat yourself up regularly? If we are all being honest, I think everyone would have to say ‘yes’ to that question.

The trick is to catch the negative cycle of thinking and shift it into something that moves us into positive action. Ok, so instead of grabbing your Kombucha, you succumbed to your craving for a Coke. No biggy. At least if it’s not every day!

Being kind to ourselves is essential if we are to turn new year’s resolutions into healthy habits that stick. If we begin to associate changing our behaviour with negative self-talk (and even self-flagellation), then we will not look forward to trying something new and then repeating the choice regularly until it becomes our new habit. 

Consistency 

Neuroscience will tell us that it takes regular repetition of a new activity or choice before we create a new neural pathway in our brains that will embed the new habit in our lives. If you are a person, (like me), who tends to give up on something as soon as it gets hard or inconvenient, then this tip is for you. 

When it comes to following your new year’s resolution, even if you falter for a few days, it’s important to get back on the bandwagon and try again. Consistency of trying a new behaviour will eventually lead to you learning the right balance, tempo and approach for your body, your life, and your mindset. 

Take drinking Kombucha as an example. Up until 3 years ago, I had super sensitive digestion that would react to all manner of foods and drinks, and no doctor could ever tell me what was wrong. Eventually, they labelled it as IBS and left me to my own devices to work out how to manage the symptoms. 

Then, I found Equinox. 

After drinking a bottle a day for a few weeks, I noticed that my bloating had reduced, and I felt generally healthier. Plus, I fell in love with the Equinox Ginger flavour. After a few months, I had lost weight and started to sleep better. All positive side effects that made me want to continue the new habit of drinking Kombucha every day! So, if you want to try out some of these tips and embed a new habit that will help you feel better, body, mind and soul, why not join us for our 14 Day Kombucha Challenge? Enjoy a delicious bottle of Equinox daily for 14 days, and then tell us how you feel. From your energy levels to your digestion, even your overall mood, we’re convinced you’ll feel a difference for the better.