They say habits are easy to form but hard to get rid of. A teacher in my middle school used to explain this by saying, “Remove ‘H’ from habit and ‘abit’ is still left, then remove the ’a’ and ‘bit’ is still left, then remove the ‘b’ and ‘it’ is still left. I loved how perfectly he explained it.

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It is said that we humans are creatures of habits. Evolution is often credited with the development of this trait, citing the survival values of familiarity. But every coin has a second face and so do habits. We often develop bad habits that have adverse effects on our life.

These are the ones that are the most difficult to get rid of as we are often stuck in a vicious circle. These toxic habits ruin our lives and everything in it making life everything it is not supposed to be: toxic.

Lets look at some of the most common bad habits and how to get free of them.

1. Dwelling on the Past

Different people might have different opinions about this. Some people might say that it is only by looking at your past can you plan your future. Others would say that each day is a new beginning and dwelling on the past is a fool’s errand.


No matter your views, one must agree that we should not let our past (good or bad) have a negative impact on our present or our future. You could also argue that dwelling too much on past successes can make you overconfident and on past failures too much timid.

If this is a habit you have, you better start making changes. Learn how to use your past to your benefits. It can be a great teacher, one which can pave your path to the future.

2. Always Assuming the Worst

In one word it means being a pessimist. It can be really unhealthy for your life if you always see the glass half empty. A pessimist breeds nothing but negativity. To be fair, I don’t think anyone in this world is one hundred percent a pessimist. 

While people say that assuming the worst can prepare them from disappointments and make them ready mentally to handle any such situations. While this can be true to a certain extent, it is not the way life is meant to be lived, in constant fear and constant expectations of bad things happening. 

I am not saying that one should be so positive that they turn a blind eye to reality and just become hopeless fools who just believe that good things will happen just because they thing they will. Obviously you need to do work actively to make that happen. I believe that maintaining a balance is very important. Be ready for any situations that may arise but at the same time hope for the best.

3. Comparing Yourself With Others

This is yet another habit that prevents us from being truly happy in our lives. We often find ourselves comparing our lives with the others around us. We like to compare all aspects of lives, be it as little as material things or bigger things like success or relationships.

We should understand that each person is different with different hopes and aspirations, upbringing, experiences, skills, etc. Yes, sometimes it might feel that life is unfair and that some people have way too much while you have nothing in comparison. But remember this - the stuff you have might be someone else’s dream.

This habit of comparison will make you a miserable person who is not focussed on improving himself which in my opinion should be the actual goal in life. Always try to be a better person, a better version of you. The only competition you have, is you!

4. Trying To Fit In

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The thing of beauty with us humans is that we are all unique. One species, but 7 billion unique characters. We all want different things from lives, we have different talents and interests and likes and dislikes. All this dictates our social circles.

But sometimes, we may find ourselves being stuck with the wrong crowd, either intentionally or because of a lack of choice. There can be no greater disservice to yourself than to trying to fit in with them. Just the other day, I read a beautiful saying about this, “Not everywhere you fit in is where you belong.”

It is very important for us as humans to find the right social circles for ourselves. Our friends, colleagues, family are really important in our lives and to a certain extent they shape us and make us a better version of who we already are.

5. Being Too Hard On Yourself

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This one is a little cliche but it something that I have done to myself a lot in the past. The thing is, our actions have consequences and we are all aware of that fact. We are also aware that sometimes things may not be under our control and we are left with the natural way things unfold. In such cases we have no choice but to act as spectators.

In doing so, we might blame ourselves for bad results or other unfavourable outcomes. We have a tendency of asking a lot of “what-ifs”. All this creates a lot of unnecessary stress and can be really daunting mentally. 

Don’t be too hard on yourself. You might be thinking that it is much easier said than done and I totally agree. It is something I had to really fight to ward off. I realised that it is futile to care too much about what happens in life because most of it isn’t even in our hands. Also, in a way all our stresses are quite meaningless in the grand scheme of things if you think about it.