What do you do if you don't like yourself because of your bad habits and you don't have the energy to change them?

 You’ll experience even bigger problems for one simple reason:

If you don’t have the time or the energy to change your bad habits, your bad habits will change you.

You’ll lose track of time because days will turn into months, and months into years. One day, when you least expect it, you’ll look at yourself in the mirror and you’ll realize that you’re not the person you were once. Perhaps you won’t recognize yourself (and not just physically). Perhaps you will like yourself even less than you do today. And that will be a painful moment. What you don’t know today is when exactly the moment will arrive, but know this: you won’t be able to run away from your bad habits forever. They will most certainly catch up with you.

As for how you got into this situation, it’s possible that you’ve tried breaking your bad habits before but without success. At some point you may have realized that your efforts aren’t making a difference, and maybe you think now that the habits are impossible to give up, so much so that you might be thinking to yourself, I can’t stop doing this! I don’t have the willpower to stop and it’s exhausting to me!

If this is the case, you’re stuck in a habit loop of negative self-talk, resignation, and giving up. It’s not the best feeling in the world. It probably feels like you are losing a personal war with yourself. But there’s one good thing about this situation:

It’s not hopeless.

There is a way to change your bad habits, and it starts with talking to yourself differently. Next time you think to yourself, I can’t stop doing this! change your self-talk to this question: Why don’t I just try?

It’s a way to give yourself permission to react differently to a problem.

Here are several steps that will take you through the process.

• Think carefully if there is something else hiding behind your “I can't!” Maybe it’s the fear of not being able to do something successfully, or not being able to be the best in the class, or not doing it perfectly, or being scared you’ll embarrass yourself in front of other people.
• Next time you feel like reacting this way, ask yourself where the resistance is coming from. Be honest with yourself. Why are you resisting? Is it from fear, or lack of interest, or giving in to distractions that take over your day because you lack self-discipline? Find out what it is so you can do something about it.
• Think how this habit change can benefit you. The biggest benefit to making this change is that you can win over fear. It’s a powerful thing to keep a little mental space open to possibilities, instead of shutting the door before even trying something new or different.
• Ask the question, Why don’t I just try? Then observe how your brain reacts to it. What is the first thing that comes to mind for you? Do you look for potential obstacles if you try something different, or do you feel like you have more freedom to contemplate what a positive outcome will bring you?
• Consider the future version of you. What would your life be like if you decided not to let fear limit you? How would you deal with problems if you kept an open mind? What kind of person can you become if you start dealing with a bad habit now so that it doesn’t turn into an even bigger problem in the future? By making small steps every day to eliminate what doesn’t work to your advantage, you’re opening yourself up to more positive things — also habits — to enter your life. You are creating space for a more positive version of you. And that is worth fighting for