Happy New Year!
2025 is here and with it, 365 chances of making better and healthier decisions. For most people, the new year is an opportune time for self-reflection. It is a time when you put yourselves under the metaphoric microscope and dissect every aspect of your lives.
The scrutiny allows you to take inventory of your habits, evaluating what’s for keeps and what deserves to be weeded out. While cultivating positive habits is crucial, quitting harmful ones is equally transformative.
If you are ready to turn over a new leaf in 2025 or your New Year’s resolution involves giving up a bad habit, this article is for you. Here are the top five harmful habits to quit in 2025, along with strategies to overcome them.
1. Vaping and Smoking.
In recent years, the use of E-cigarettes and vapes has become a popular and acceptable mode of smoking and using nicotine. Despite an alarming statistic of over 35 million people globally using vapes and tobacco products, manufacturers of E-cigarettes are constantly outdoing each other by adding sweet and alluring flavours.
However, smoking is still smoking whether you are using digital gadgets or rolling up tobacco! It is a harmful habit that should be kicked to the curb.
Tobacco smoking has the bad reputation of being associated with a host of health problems, including lung cancer and stroke, while vaping is marketed as a safer alternative. However, vaping is highly addictive, and numerous studies support that it can also cause lung and heart damage.
How to quit:
- Join a smoking cessation program
- Seek professional therapy to help you get to the bottom of the addiction
- Join a support group
- Replace the habit with healthier alternatives like chewing sugar-free gum
- Keep a journal and track your daily progress.
2. Excessive Drinking.
A glass of wine after dinner is acceptable and even rumoured to be good for digestion. However, frequent drinking spree to oblivion with missing days and memories in between is problematic. If you’ve woken up behind a ditch or in a sewer after consuming alcohol, maybe it’s time to face the fact that you have a drinking problem.
If you skive work to go hit the bottle in between meetings or show up turdy and in need of several breath minds, it’s time to drop this habit. Excessive drinking is detrimental to your health. It can lead to liver damage and acute mental health and cognitive issues. It also increases the chances of accidents. Even moderate drinking is also harmful to your health.
How to quit:
- Limit your intake. Stick to one drink per day for women and two drinks for men.
- Identify your triggers and avoid situations that encourage drinking.
- Try non-alcoholic options.
- Join a rehab and let the professional take care of you.
- Join Alcoholics Anonymous to keep you on the right track.
3. Overeating.
Many people do not consider overeating a bad habit. This, however, could not be further from the truth. Eating even after you’re full is common, as many people overeat at parties, holidays, and gatherings. But when it becomes a daily affair, it becomes problematic.
If food is a constant thought in your mind and you feel like you are always compelled to eat when bored, right after finishing a plate, or just because, you probably have a problem. Also, if you use food as a coping mechanism, reaching out for a bag of crisps and ice cream to numb pain or a chocolate bar to boost your mood, maybe it’s time to rethink your relationship with food!
Overeating contributes to weight gain, which leads to obesity. Obesity is linked to other serious health issues like diabetes, joint pain and heart disease. Besides, mindless and emotional eating could be a mask for underlying psychological issues.
How to quit:
- Plan balanced meals and avoid skipping meals, which can lead to binge eating later on.
- Practice mindful eating by paying attention to hunger and fullness cues.
- Identify emotional triggers and seek healthier coping mechanisms like journaling and meditation.
- Consult a nutritionist to help you get your meals right.
- Seek out therapy to help you unravel your relationship with food.
4. Procrastination.
New year, same problems. Last year, your New Year’s resolution was to start a business. The year passed, and you have yet to draft that business proposal. You said you would start working out and join a gym on Monday. 52 Mondays later, you are still waiting for the perfect one to start exercising!
Procrastination is an insidious habit of putting off what needs to be done, even when you know it needs to be done. When done consistently, this habit has serious adverse effects on your well-being. It can lead to increased stress, reduced productivity and missed opportunities.
When you have a habit of not keeping your word to yourself, you severely damage your self-image. You are practically telling yourself that you are not reliable and, therefore, can not be trusted. Over time, this erodes self-confidence and hinders personal and professional growth.
How to quit:
- Break tasks into smaller, manageable portions.
- Set realistic deadlines and hold yourself accountable.
- Use time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique or to-do lists.
- Reward yourself for completing tasks promptly.
5. Self-Pity.
You missed the bus six times this week, and you are convinced the driver has it out for you. Your company is not paying you on time, and you are struggling to meet your obligations. You accidentally killed your pet fish, and now you feel horrible. The milk went bad, and your life plainly sucks!
While life can constantly throw curve balls at you, wallowing in self-pity will not do you any good. Continuously dwelling on negative emotions or circumstances without the drive to make any changes fosters a victim mentality. If it is constantly raining, dark and gloomy in your life, this can lead to feelings of helplessness, often evolving into depression.
This is not to dismiss that bad things happen, and life can sometimes suck! You are allowed to cry and have a pity party, but you are not allowed to stay there for long. Do not get comfortable and build a fort in self-pity land.
How to quit:
- Make a gratitude list, and state three to five things you are thankful for every day.
- Change your mindset and view challenges as opportunities for growth.
- Surround yourself with supportive and positive people.
- Consider therapy to address underlying issues.
- Continually empower yourself and build resilience through exercise, good content and books.
The Take Away.
Quitting harmful habits is not a walk in the park. It requires grit, consistency and intentionality. But the benefits far outweigh the challenges. Start by focusing on one habit at a time, and celebrate small victories along the way. Change is a journey, not a destination, and by eliminating these habits, you’re paving the way for a healthier and more fulfilling life in 2025.♥
Mourine Warui is a media and communication expert and seasoned writer. Her goal is to empower and offer solutions to everyday girl’s problems while provoking candid and authentic conversations. Other goals are to provide inspiration and entertainment to readers through creative, thought-provoking and edgy stories.
