Have you ever been through a break up? I have and I know it is not easy. Having to change your life in one fell swoop, where you live, your social circle, your normal routines, it's no joke. Majority of the time the reason this change is so hard is because of the familiarity of the relationship. No longer having access to that comfort zone sucks!

This is the same reason that we continue to put up with our bad habits. Skipping exercise, procrastination, overeating, overspending, living beyond our means, hoarding, binge drinking, and many more, are all habits that we continue even though they bring us no good and leave us depressed and filled with guilt. All because we know what to expect from them, we are comfortable in this crappy familiar comfort zone.

A break up pushes us out of that comfort zone, forcing us to make new routines and a new level of familiarity. If you have been through a break up and weeks, months, or years later, realized that it was for the best, that it allowed you to let someone else into your life that made you feel fantastic and filled your life with positivity, then you might be able to understand how kicking a bad habit to the curb might also give you that same feeling. If you haven't, well you're just going to have to trust the process. I'm sure someone in your life has gone through a break up and been super happy that they did. 

This is my challenge to you, and to myself... pick one bad habit that you know you should have "the talk" with. Sit down and either mentally, or even on paper, tell that bad habit that you are no longer going to put up with it's bullshit and that it is time to go your separate ways. Then make a game plan to find a better habit that will fill you will positivity and pride. No sitting on the couch with ice cream and a sad movie, we already know that this will be for the better!!

For example... Let's say that the bad habit we'd like to break up with is sleeping in and then missing our exercise for the day. After telling Sleeping In, "It's not you, it's me" (although we all know that it really is YOU), pack up their crap and throw it away. Then develop your new habit game plan. There is no such thing as Match.com for healthy habits so you actually have to make this happen.

1. Go to bed a little earlier so that you have extra sleep, making it easier to get up.
2. Set out your workout clothes, or even sleep in them, making it easier to start exercising.
3. Pick out your work clothes and get them ready before bed, making it easier to get ready.
4. Pick your exercise or even plan to meet up with a buddy, making it easier to accomplish.
5. Set your alarm with an energizing song that pumps you up and then start dreaming of how awesome you will feel, not just after your workout but all day long!

"Out with the old and in with the new." "One door closes and another opens." These are phrases that embody the idea of ridding your life of people and/or things that bring you down and contribute negative thoughts and feeling to your life and replacing them with ones that pump you full of energy and leave you with butterflies and happiness, just like the kisses from a new someone special.