Life is a game of choices, and you have to choose wisely. We should never forget that we have the right to pick our choices but we don’t have the right to decide the consequences of our decisions.
Making the Best Personal Decisions
The quality of your life depends on the quality of your choices. Whatever you’re experiencing today is often a product of your previous investments. You don’t have to wait until you are sick before you start eating healthily and working out. You can choose to have a culture of having a healthy lifestyle to protect your health both in the short-term and long run. Note that you are always making a decision even when it seems as though you’re not doing anything. Indecision and choosing to do nothing are still choices.
You should be more deliberate about the choices you make because they all have consequences, which can be either positive or negative. For example, you shouldn’t just eat anything you can grab. It’s a wrong approach to feeding that can make you gain excess weight or jeopardize your health. An adage says, “You are what you eat”. Regardless of your perception of this statement, it’s not far from the truth.
Your choice of food and how you eat it affect several parts of your life, including your physique and overall health. Nonetheless, your feeding habit isn’t the only lifestyle choice you make. Your choice to commit to a daily workout or the decision to stay off will also bring its consequences.
Lifestyle Choices
A lifestyle choice refers to a personal and deliberate decision to carry out a behavior that may decrease or increase the risk of disease or injury. It’s likely that you have made lifestyle choices already. For example, if you have decided to take a walk for thirty minutes every day, it is a lifestyle choice. In the same way, if you have made the decision to stay away from alcohol, it is a lifestyle choice that will promote your wellbeing and help you avoid damaging consequences.
By deciding to avoid or reduce alcohol consumption, you are decreasing the chances of a car crash due to driving while drunk. You’re also reducing the risk of liver damage when you make this choice. Ultimately, you are decreasing the chances of dying early. Besides, the stigma that comes with being known as an alcoholic can take its toll on your mental health.
Most of the lifestyle choices that have been mentioned so far are positive. However, there are negative ones too. They can cause devastating damages to the person that has this lifestyle and also the people around them. Below are examples of unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Smoking
An example of a negative lifestyle choice is smoking. It is a major risk factor for different cancers, including lung cancer. Smoking doesn’t only affect the smoker; it also has destructive impacts on the people around the smoker. For example, the individuals around a smoker are also inhaling the smoke coming from the cigarette. So, they end up suffering the same or even worse health issues. If you smoke, you’re not the only one at risk. The people around you are also at risk because they are passive smokers.
Use of Firearms
The use of a firearm is also a dangerous lifestyle choice. It’s not safe, especially if you have issues with anger management. You could hurt others and also yourself on a day when you are frustrated. Indeed, it can help in self- defense, especially in states where they are legal. Nonetheless, you should think twice before you procure one even if you are living in that kind of location. The fact that something is legal doesn’t mean it is good for you. Seek other alternatives that can help you apart from it.
Drug Abuse
If you have a habit of taking drugs without a doctor’s prescription or supervision, you are also playing a dangerous game. Drugs are chemical substances. Therefore, when you consume them, they will affect your body in ways you might never know. Most drugs have side effects. It’s only that some are mild. Still, some drugs have devastating side effects ranging from pregnancy complications to constipation.
Some drugs, especially heroin and cannabis, can lead to addiction problems. They can also cause hallucinations, thereby interfering with your ability to perform your daily tasks. So, it is in your best interest to avoid experimenting with drugs. Doctors and other professional medical experts are trained to understand the content of medications and their effects. Therefore, it is in your best interest to trust their judgment when choosing to take or leave a drug.
How to Break Free from Harmful Habits
The best way to break free from harmful habits is to avoid them. Prevention is always better than cure. Once you have started indulging in a habit, it becomes very difficult to stop it. Your body likes it when you have a habit because it increases its efficiency. However, wrong lifestyle choices can have devastating consequences. Therefore, you have to stop them. It’s challenging to break free from a negative habit. Nevertheless, it’s possible.
One of the best ways you can turn things around is by replacing them with the right ones. For example, instead of smoking or drinking alcohol, you can find other ways to relax or take your mind away from the troubles of life. You can replace these habits with regular workouts or find a hobby. A hobby can improve your mood and make you excited such that you will not need the high that cannabis offers.
Be strategic about choosing a good habit to replace a negative one. If you choose an activity that doesn’t offer you the perks you enjoy from an unhealthy habit, the impact isn’t likely to last. For example, you cannot replace a bad habit that makes you calm with a good one that makes you excited. You’ll still have the craving for calmness, and you may end up going back to the former unhealthy lifestyle choice. So, take your time to ensure that you make a decision that will stand the test of time.