Sometimes one needs to let go few habits to change life. In this post, I share 12 things that I gave up bringing good change in my life.
In my earlier post, you may have come across the ways to reset your life where I have shared the good habits you need to get yourself out of life rut.
Here I am sharing about those things or habits once I started quitting, made a positive change in my life.
We all want to redo our lives at some point to feel a new hope or direction where we want to go. But your habits block you from taking that right path and becoming your best self.
Read the 12 things I let go to bring change in my life. Although even after quitting these negative habits I still slip into the past. Any habit needs to be practiced on a routine basis to make it a part of your daily life.
Taking the step for a life makeover and reinventing yourself requires self-discipline and the intention to stick to your plan.
You need to quit some old habits that are not helping you to become the improved version of yourself.
Feel free to use this list as an inspiration to pick up any such toxic habits you may find in your life and slowly toss them out!
Let us begin with the 12 habits that I gave up to change my life and start a new life.
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12 Things I Gave Up To Change My Life
These are the bad habits to let go if you want to change your life and start over.
1. Being held back by fear
Fear in any form is a major roadblock in your way to start a new life. It makes you powerless.
I too have been imprisoned by fear of failure or fear of making a fool of myself. These have resulted in me not trying that first step and staying stuck in the same place. But these things do not count in anyone’s life.
Ultimately you have to face any situation by yourself even if you have ten people by your side or zero. No one is going to be your biggest cheerleader other than you.
Letting go of fear was not an easy thing to do for me, but with determination and adopting positive habits, I was able to come out of being held back by fear.
Fear cripples your progress and I learned that tough way. If you want to change your life begin today by quitting the fearful areas you encounter.
You are strong and always believe in that. Using positive affirmations helps to keep fear out of your life.
Once I started using them daily, a drastic change happened to my mental health. I found fear nowhere rather a false misconception we sew in our imagination.
Try affirmations today and say goodbye to your powerless fears!
Related post on how to let go of your past and move on in life
2. Anger and Impatience
Anger is a mental disease we sow without any idea of the reality. Being angry at subtle trivial things only added to my frustration.
There was a time in my life when I was feeling so low that nothing used to give me any comfort and that made me more angry and impatient.
Staying calm is necessary to stick with your life goals. I learned that there are things that are out of my control and those are better to be left out.
Rather the mindset I have can be controlled by my own power. this made a ton of positive impact on my mental health.
When you are on the path of your life makeover one of the things to give up is anger.
Related read for you How to let go of anxiety and heal yourself
3. Negative self talk
There was a time in my life when self criticism was a daily habit. Trying out anything and failing in the first attempt used to make me feel inferior. I used to put myself down with harsh talks in my mind.
But these only aggravated the poisoning impact in other areas of my life. My mental peace and overall health started to feel hollow.
Negative self talk like,
“This always happens to me”
“I will never be able to make it”
“I am not as good as …”
Giving up this bad habit of rebuking myself inwardly was not easy in the beginning. Adopting more self love in my daily routine opened the door for making new changes to my life.
Never think of yourself less than others and be harsh on yourself. Yes, you have the potential to do anything you want in your life.
Have faith in yourself. Start loving yourself more by paying attention to your needs.
Your love for yourself has the power to shift negative self belief into more positive thoughts. When you think good about yourself you find ways to take your life in a new direction.
4. Complaining all day
Yes, this was me! Once I woke up in the morning I started my course of finding faults in every little detail that took place around my life.
Complaining attracted more bad things that kept popping up from here and there. This further made my life stuck leaving little room to make new changes in my life.
Once I realized this that there are things in our lives that are better to be left alone. I focused on my own being the changes I could make to beautify my life.
The change has to start with you, not outside. Give up the mindset of complaining to allow good changes in your life.
Avoid thinking that external things have the power to create an impact on you. Nothing outside can derail your life unless you allow it to.
Focus on your inner being to find out what you want and where you see yourself.
5. Caring about what others think of me
I was too much concerned about the opinions of people around me. The suggestions and judgments of friends, family and relatives on my life became the priority.
When I started focusing attention on others, my sense of evaluating life vanished. Anything I opted for myself went against the “normal” of the surroundings.
Caring about what others think of me made me feel clueless. I started having doubts about myself and the path I wanted to stick with.
Once I cleared my thoughts about how I wanted to see myself, the confidence came back. Unless a valuable opinion by a close one, I kept on taking charge of my own life without caring about others!
And guess what? when you evaluate things from your perspective rather than depending on others all becomes clear.
You gain back the self confidence to do what your heart and mind want to do.
You may find this post helpful 17 simple habits to boost your self confidence
6. Surrounded by toxic people and habits
Removing toxic things from my surroundings is one of the best things I gave up to change my life.
Letting go of bad habits that affected my happiness and deteriorated mental health was life changing for me.
Moreover, I noticed that being in contact with people who are negative about life and shower all their toxicity on me was becoming a red flag for my own progress.
Somebody else’s poor mindset was the reason for souring my motivation and happiness all day. Keeping them at a distance where I get to see them very few times a year was first of all healthy for me.
But then I thought I was not letting anyone distort my mental energy and positivity about life for even a minute. So be it cutting them off from life!
I will never suggest you cut your loved ones from your life but take very good care of your mind by keeping a safe distance from all toxic things.
You may this post worth reading about the 12 toxic habits to give up for healthy mind
7. Having too little faith
Faith is very important in every step you take in life. Have faith in your actions and the urge you have to start over in your life.
Trying too hard and not resting will only keep you on edge to put you under constant stress and anxiety.
I too tried many things at once to make changes in my life fast. This only made me more restless and looking for quick results.
When you relax your mind and fully fall back on your faith, the power starts to work for you. You can call this anything spiritual, a miracle, or your inner power backing you up.
Related post to read how to become a positive person
8. Saying yes when want to say no
If you have the habit of saying yes to everyone to not displease them, I can understand. Because I too have been there when I found it very difficult to say no to anyone’s face.
Even on many days, when I was not feeling good enough to take up that work or attend that event still I let go of my choice. I thought it was just a day, what harm would it make if I agreed to make it up?
But I was so wrong, agreeing as YES became a very natural habit for me which started making me aggressive.
Because I was unable to voice my NO in front of those who are known to me. And it harmed my mental peace severely.
I vented my frustration about accepting those requests on my close ones at home. And this has to change by putting up healthy boundaries around me to safeguard my mental health.
If people really love the person you are and know you, turning down the requests or orders will not displease anyone of them.
Take care of your boundaries and never feel ashamed or awkward in saying No if you want to. This is one of the things to give up to make a positive change in your life.
Related post 26 simple habits of people who are happy
9. Procrastinating
Having a goal is not enough to find a way to achieve it. There needs to be a plan and the intention to go for it.
This is what I faltered a time ago. I had plans but never tried to get things done in a timely fashion.
One of the reasons was having too many to do plans in one day, and another never finishing them off by keeping them for later.
Procrastination has been a bad habit for me and I always wanted to give up and make a healthy change in my life. I started this new change by following my simple ways.
My daily to-do list became very small and specific as per that day’s call.
I took up a maximum of 2 or sometimes 3 things to finish in a day. It is the first task I take up every day to complete those things that I would usually keep away from feeling dreaded!
To make a new change in your life you need to have goals as well as the right intention to accomplish them in time.
Avoid adding too many things to your day that make you feel overwhelmed. Take small steps to feel good about finishing them the same day.
Your path toward self improvement will become easy to make a new start in life.
Check out this post where you will learn 12 simple habits to improve productivity in life
10. Being unthankful
Thankfulness for all that I already have never mattered to me. I was constantly looking outside without appreciating the blessings that kept showing in my life.
Lack of gratitude made me unhappy and restless. And this is one of the things I gave up to change my life.
There are so many simple things you can be grateful for right now. It is not about accumulating things to add more happiness.
Being grateful is the way to be a happy person. Gratitude opens the door to more abundance and makes new changes to your life.
11. Not taking care of yourself
Taking care of my mind and body took a hike when I was pushing through one day at a time.
Self care is a necessity for everyone to feel good from body and spirit. Whether it is resting for a few minutes, reading a good book, spending time outside, sipping your favorite drink, or enjoying stretching.
Making myself a priority never came to my mind. It was not that I did not have scope to do them. Rather I did not even feel the importance of taking good care of myself.
Lack of self care was one of the things I promised myself to give up and change my life for the better. And once I did make time for proper care and self love in a daily routine, my life looked very different.
If you want to turn the course of your life into hope and more positivity, add self care from today.
Give yourself the best care first so that you feel recharged to pour love into others.
Related post: 30-day mental health challenge
12. Sacrificing yourself to please others
Stop sacrificing your dreams and your happiness to please others.
If you constantly live in fear that if you don’t show them attention or stay in a group they are going to leave you, then let them.
Pleasing others to feel loved and wanted was something I was too drawn to. Only to realize that it is tarnishing my health and mind. This mindset is not in alignment with the life path I wanted to walk on.
One of the things I gave up to change my life is to stop letting people decide what is good or bad for me. And listening to my mind worked wonders and gave me the courage to start a new chapter in my life.
You are a powerful person who can do the unlimited. Have full faith in yourself and your Inner Being. You are always safe and protected.
Avoid giving in to pressure on what to do with your life. If the suggestion is viable evaluate yourself without handing it over to others. After all this life only belongs to you.
Start thinking good and positive about yourself and with practice everything you feel bad will turn into good.
These are the 12 things I gave up to change my life for a complete self improvement purpose.
Changing bad habits that were detrimental to my mind and health proved positive for improving my life on the right track.
Adopting new good habits will always help you to find new ways to become your best version. Once I started to quit the toxic habits that were ruining my life, more clarified I became about it.
Whenever you feel that things taking place in your life do not seem to make you feel good, take notice of your current habits.
Acknowledging your bad habits is the first step on the path to add life changing habits. Whenever you feel stuck in life, shuffle your habits and routines to get your life together.
Hope you have enjoyed this post. You’re welcome to share your thoughts on changing your life in the comments below!
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