‘Want to quit a bad habit? Take up a new habit instead’

Positive changes are much more effective than wallowing in a lack of resolve

I’ve got a lot of bad habits. One of them is starting things with great enthusiasm and then stopping them soon after. In fact, I surprise myself weekly when I realise that I’ve kept up this essay writing for over a year (go me!). I also drive like I’m an extra from The Fast and Furious which is why you’ll never find a fish on any of my cars. But it’s the things I do daily – “good” or “bad” – that form the habits we either want to cut out of our lives, or celebrate. I’ll save you the boredom of listing everything I’m terrible at, but over the years, I’ve realised that my default method of trying to quit just wasn’t working for me.

Years ago, I started to experience bloating whenever I ate bread or pasta. At first it was just an annoyance but soon it actually became painful. You’d think that would be enough to make me stop but no, I still somehow convinced myself that my morning croissant, lunchtime toasted sandwich and evening chorizo pasta was totally worth it. It took my immune system shutting down and allowing rogue cells to become cancerous for me to take my health seriously.