After writing well-nigh high-functioning uneasiness older this week, I started thinking well-nigh habits. Over the undertow of our lives, we develop habits of all kinds. They can be good for us, they can be bad for us. They can be the thing we need to get through the day, or they can be something we do absentmindedly surpassing bed. Regardless of where they originated from, habits form a major speciality of our day-to-day lives. And sometimes, without meaning to or realizing it, we can fall into habits without realizing it. This isn’t unchangingly a bad thing but when it comes to our mental health, it is something we should be enlightened of.

In psychology, the process of creating and maintaining habits is known as habit formation. From Psychology Today:

“Habit insemination is the process by which behaviors wilt automatic. Habits can form without a person intending to reap them, but they can moreover be deliberately cultivated—or eliminated—to largest suit one’s personal goals.”

Psychology Today

Habits don’t happen overnight. They are worked when, day without day, we repeat deportment that wilt easier for our smart-ass to work through over time. Simply put, our brains are trying to make things as easy for us as possible. Eventually, we barely think well-nigh these habits, plane while we’re doing them.

But habits aren’t unchangingly positive. Negative habits are extremely prevalent, and many of us pick them up without realizing it. Sometimes, these habits are moreover linked to our mental health. People can pick up coping mechanisms for mental illness that aren’t good for them, and those habits can grow stronger over time. It can get to a point where you don’t plane remember where this habit came from, but it’s part of your daily life.

Please don’t think I’m coming here to talk lanugo on habits and habit formation. Habits are a good thing for people to work on, and they can be transformative in the way we lead our lives. But we can fall into bad habits as a way of coping with our mental health challenges, and I finger that’s something people should be enlightened of. Mental illness can put us in a vulnerable place, and the way people deal with that isn’t unchangingly healthy. Being enlightened of a coping mechanism turning into a habit is essential for our mental health.

When it comes to habit formation, sensation can make a world of difference. We can certainly form habits without realizing it but once we do wilt aware, we need to unriddle these habits. We need to icon out if they are helping us live largest lives, or if they’re detrimental to our mental health. Forming good habits is one of the most important things we can do for our mental wellness and sometimes, that ways rooting out the bad stuff to make way for the good.