How do I change my Lifestyle?
It is difficult but not impossible.
Health is a condition for what everyone wants – namely a good life. However, a good life is not just to live healthy. There are a lot of other conditions that affect your quality of life. The problems arise when there a discrepancy arises between what you want and what you do. Smokers want a good and healthy life, but at the same time, smoking is part of the smoker’s quality of life. ‘I know it is wrong to smoke, but I do it anyway’. ‘I want to lose weight but then I got the munchies’. ‘I want to live healthily but I also want other things.’
A way to address the problem is to fill out the table below. In the table you should list the conditions that is for changing your current lifestyle and those conditions against or which make it difficult to change. In the same way, you should list the conditions that are for continuing something and those conditions against continuing doing it.
Here is an example:
| Advantages of continuing smoking | Disadvantages of continuing smoking |
| - I like smoking | - It costs a lot of money |
| - I don't think I can do without it | - It is unhealthy |
| - I like the taste | - The children do not like it |
| - It make me calm and satisfied | - I cough every morning |
| Disadvantages of stopping smoking | Advantages of stopping smoking |
| - I'll miss it | - My cough will go away |
| - I'll gain weight | - I'll save a lot of money |
| - I'll become more agitated | - I'll live longer and better |
| - I'll have trouble concentrating | - I want to prove that I can |
The most important is not the table but what you contemplate when you fill it out. Is it really true that you will have trouble concentrating if you stop smoking? How hard will it be to lose weight if you gain some? What matters most to you? What would you be able to do with all that saved money? How will it affect your self-confidence if you stopped smoking?
It will probably not solve your discrepancies between what you want and what you do, but the table and your contemplations can help push you in the right direction. The table can also be the bases of discussion with friends, family or your doctor.
Click here to download a table for you to fill out yourself.