Does this sound familiar? “It’s the holidays. I’ll get back on track in the New Year.” My guess is that most people have made that comment about something. Maybe you have been working on creating the healthy habit of eliminating soda, exercising regularly or going to bed earlier.
Even if you have become really consistent, the holiday season is busier, and it is really easy to let things slide. In fact, not following through with healthy habits during the holidays is the norm.
Luckily, I have a plan that will help you maintain your healthy habits, so when the New Year arrives, you will feel happy and healthy because you are ALREADY on track to have a great year.
#1 Reframe the Decision
When we commit to a healthy habit, there is typically an underlying reason. Let’s take the example of eliminating soda. Maybe you break out, feel jittery, gain weight or have trouble sleeping when you drink a lot of soda. When you are tempted to drink a soda, try shifting the dialogue that starts running through your head.
Negative:
- I really want to drink a soda but I can’t.
- I feel deprived and annoyed.
- Everyone else can drink soda and not gain weight; it’s not fair.
Positive:
- I happily choose to avoid soda because it helps me maintain my feel-good weight.
- I am working towards reaching my feel-good weight, and I easily make choices that support my goal.
- Reaching and maintaining my feel-good weight will bring me more joy than soda.
Shifting your thoughts from deprivation and sacrifice to the benefits of sticking with your healthy habits, make it more pleasurable and increase the likelihood that you will continue to follow through.
#2 Stop Sign
We often decide that we are going to do something and then, in the moment, we convince ourselves it is okay to not follow through with our commitment. We start making excuses and justifying why we don’t have to do it.
Let’s use the example of exercising regularly. You’ve been really consistent, but during the holidays you start thinking of reasons why you don’t have to or can’t exercise like:
- It’s too cold.
- I don’t have enough time.
- Skipping one day won’t matter
- My schedule is different
When the justifications pop into your head, visualize a Stop Sign. Your subconscious mind is very familiar with the image of a stop sign, so by visualizing one you are sending the message to stop the pattern of making excuses.
Once you have broken the onslaught of excuses, you can start reprogramming your subconscious mind with new thoughts that will help you reach your goal of exercising regularly like:
- I am committed to exercising regularly.
- I know I will feel better if I follow through right now than if I cancel on myself.
- I am a woman of my word, and I always follow through with my commitments.
#3 Plan Your Cheats
During the holidays, there are going to be situations where it is less stressful and makes more sense for you to cheat than to stick to your healthy habits. Let’s take the example of getting enough sleep.
- Look at your calendar and choose the days where going to bed on time would detract from the fun and joy of the holiday season. Then give yourself permission to stay up late on those nights.
- Once you have picked the nights, then they should not be altered. By committing beforehand, you are less likely to try and convince yourself that blowing off your “bedtime” won’t hurt you.
The truth is, once you break your commitment, it becomes increasingly more challenging to maintain the healthy habit in the future. We think it will be easy to get back on track, but in reality, restarting a habit is almost as hard as starting a new habit.
However, if something spontaneous occurs and you want to stay up late, by all means, you should. If you want to add another late night, just ask this clarifying question,
- Will staying up late increase or decrease my happiness? Asking this question will help you determine if adding this extra late night is in your best interest.
Eating a healthier diet is a habit that many people are working towards. I know from personal experience that this becomes particularly challenging over the holidays because temptations are everywhere. There are holiday parties, gift baskets full of tasty treats, special family dinners or cookies that only get baked once a year.
Our cravings get ramped up, and it can be very challenging to stick with our healthy eating habits. That is exactly why I created the 3 Day: Crush Cravings Challenge. You’ll learn my three step process that will help you crush your cravings so you can easily stay on track with your healthy eating goals during the holidays AND into the New Year.