Why’s it so hard to break a habit?

I installed a broken light switch in my house a few years ago. Unfortunately, I installed it upside down so instead of flipping the switch up to turn on the light, which was customary, you had to flip it down. Rather than changing the switch I told myself that I would eventually remember that, for this one switch, down, in a sense, was up. That was three years ago and I still keep forgetting. The problem was that this light-switch habit just didn’t feel normal, it went against all the other “correct” switches in my house and therefore my brain was constantly being reinforced by the old, established loop: switch up, light on.

If you accept the Self-Coaching premise that anxiety and depression are habits that are reinforced by the chronic doubts, fears, and negativity of self-distrust (a.k.a., insecurity) then you can begin to understand why emotional struggle is so hard to neutralize. Habits are indeed stubborn things.

#anxiety #depression #selfcoaching