How to Break a Habit

Breaking a habit is hard but anyone can do it with principles of behavior analysis. You’ve gotta find those things that compete with a glass of wine (such as reading a few pages of a good book, listening to relaxing music, etc).

Or, you can always slowly decrease the amount you’re drinking per night until you’re drinking none. Going cold turkey can be hard!

Good luck!

I had a 2 glasses of wine each night habit for a looong time. I never questioned it or considered it a problem. About a year ago I decided to quit drinking altogether to sort of clean the slate and observe my habits. It turns out that I no longer want to drink at all! I wake up clear-headed, I feel better overall, and I lost at least 5 pounds within the first few months. It’s amazing now for me to see how alcohol oriented our world is. I’m not against anyone drinking, but wow, it is so interesting to be an observer rather than a participant. Whenever we have dinner with friends I make up my own special drink (usually some sort of sparkling lemonade with a sprig of rosemary) and bottle it up in a pretty bottle. It turns out that everyone ends up wanting my special drink instead of the wine! Do what feels right for you, but being aware of our habits is pretty powerful.

Lara, I need to break that “looking at the internet before I start writing for the day” too!

such a great book, and i love this clip with the author – time to analyze some of my own habits

I need to break the bad habit of wandering around the kitchen when I’m bored… this could help! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for this post! I feel less alone.

I too reach for the bottle of wine for a glass (or two) once my twins are finally in bed.
It feels like a reward, something that soothes me and helps me get rid of stress after a long day of work
as a mom and a writer in NYC.
However I decided last week to have wine (or beer) only on the weekends. And it feels very good to drink water weeknights (although I am French).

Now if only the guards at Rockefeller Park could not pay attention to our friends and my husband and me sharing Rose on the grass on weekends, that would be more pleasurable for all of us.

I too have the habit of a drink once my son is in bed. I know I feel much better in the morning when I skip it. I realize it’s a habit that needs to be broken :(

My 4pm cup of tea! I could miss it (because I needed it not to be a can’t do with out habit) but I prefer not to miss it.

This is really interesting! Thanks for posting.

I love this! Usually at about 3:30 I leave my desk (I work from home) and go to the kitchen. That’s my tired time of day. It’s like clockwork and I snack on whatever’s around..usually olives but sometimes something more dangerous, like banana bread! ahh. I gotta stop! I think I will try a brisk walk to perk me back up.

A couple of people here have mentioned some interesting things about “European” habits (and the fact that there is so much variation among Europeans and European countries). I spend a lot of time in Italy as my partner is Italian, and one thing I’ve noticed, at least around his friends, is that the wine is only a complement to a meal (and I believe there is research showing that the benefit of red wine may be in part its ability to break down red meat in the stomach). They don’t seem to pour wine and sip as they’re cooking, or just sitting around the house unwinding, etc. My boyfriend in fact and his family don’t drink much at all, i.e. the wine comes out at Christmas and Easter dinner, or when there are guests. His dad, who was a doctor in the south of Italy for more than 50 years, never drank. I used to pour a glass of wine a few nights a week after I got home from work and was on the Internet. I enjoyed the ritual, but I also broke the habit because I was concerned that it wasn’t a very healthy way to live.

I´d rather be an alcoholic than reading a self help book.

I’m “european” and lately I’ve been thinking that maybe the late night dinner + wine combo is not such a good option. But then again, there is nothing more fun and relaxing than a nice (delicious) dinner and wine with your husband or friends after a long and exhausting day. So I’m not so sure I want to break this habit. I guess acknowledgment is good enough for me, for now.

Anita

Mine would be COFFEE!!! I come to expect it right when I wake up. That is fine, I am totally okay with a morning coffee…but I plan my day around fetching a perfect cappuccino from the local coffee bar in the afternoon. I need to get over it. It’s expensive, my body could use more water and less caffeine for sure.

Have that glass, girl.

brilliant.
i need to quit drinking soda. seriously. i hate being addicted to caffeine. having a headache because i haven’t consumed it for the day is so crappy!

Dear Jo,

I love your blog, it is one of my favorite spots on the internet. There is one thing that I have read a few times, that annoys me a little. May I tell you what it is?

You sometimes refer to something as “european”. Here it is the habit of drinking wine in the evenings.

The only things that Europeans really have in common is the continent they live on. Sure, there are similarities in the culture of the scandinavian countries and people in Belgium and the Netherlands probably eat similar things for breakfast.

And drinking wine in the evening is for sure common in Mediterranean countries.

But it is NOT a “european” thing. There is not such a thing as a typical european culture.

I know I sound like a boring teacher (or even worse: a mean wiseacre. But for me as a Portuguese married to a Norwegian living in Germany it really annoys me when Americans refer to any random thing that they know about France, England or Sweden as “european”.

Europe consists of 47 countries. The difference in lifestyle between these countries is huge. Luckily!

I know it makes things easier to assume that all of Europe is one large cultural area. But it is not!

It’s in my reading list. xoxo
http://www.hellohellofriday.com/

My sweet tooth makes me eat something sweet after every meal.. Bad Habit…
Thanks for sharing this video..

Love this! My escape is to watch reality tv and drink a cocktail or two… the reward is absolutely the escape. But I find it in a good book too… I still need to create some other ways to escape though.

Wine is my habit too, and I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to change it. The funny thing is, it’s more in your head than anywhere else. The first day is the hardest, then afterward you realize you sleep better without a couple of glasses of wine sloshing around.

great to read this – i also am guilty of the nightly wine off- but I’ve been trying to switch to tea. It’s surprising how quickly the desire changes!

xo em

p.s but the wine is great, right?

i have the wine habit too, although i’ve started to break it. hope i can keep it up and make the wine more occasional. thanks for sharing.

When someone tells me a story I always comment on something similar that happened to me, but I think it might sound as if I am trying to compete or distract the attention from their story.
I really try to be talkative or empathetic but I think I create a different feeling, so I am aware of that now and I stop myself when I am about to do it. Just being aware helps!

I’m a nail biter through and through! Will definitely watch this tonight.

Bad habit: eating late at night! I just get the munchies after I put my kids in bed & want comfort food. I don’t drink alcohol, but food, definitely is my wine.

i like the idea behind this video….however, my bad habit is having a cluttered room. i’m not sure what my “reward” is for that.

Mine is chocolate. I was the same way as many people are with wine. The kids would be tucked in, I would immediately go to the fridge to break off a piece. I had to stop keeping it in the fridge.

Darling! I am SO working on quitting my nightly ‘glass-or-two’ of wine. For those who always say ‘there’s nothing wrong with one glass of wine,’ I have this little theory: ‘it’s never JUST ONE glass of wine.’ I started for just not buying it…and try to leave it for the weekends. The moment you don’t have it for two nights, you need is much less!

xoxo

What a cute and inspiring little video! I think my worst habit is negative thinking…now I’m trying to figure out what “reward” I get from it…

haha, maybe it’s a fine habit…but it’s like my mouth literally salivates like pavlov’s dogs :)