It takes 66 days to break a habit, create a new habit, change something in your life and make it your new norm. It seems like a long time, but when you really start doing it, the time flies by! Summer is a great time to create new and better habits for you and your family.
When the school year starts, we always start with good intentions. Then a day slips by, we get busy with sports and homework and well…life, and before we know it even more days slip by. In the summer we tend to be a little bit more relaxed and less hectic on a day to day basis. This is the perfect time to clear our heads when our minds are less chaotic, we actually retain things better for the long run.
What things do you and your child/teen need or want to address that you haven’t gotten to yet?
- Establishing an effective sleep routine
- Increasing healthy eating habits
- Incorporating physical activity into daily life
- Immerse yourself into a hobby
- Stress management
- Positive Social Media
- Work on your organization
- Eliminate bad habits
- Brush and floss regularly
- Connection/time alone
- Many, many more…. What is yours?
Make your goal this summer to make healthy choices a habit so that you don’t have to work to make them stick when things get super busy again. Take it one day at a time and work to make it happen. Soon you won’t have to work as hard. It will just be a habit and your new normal.
One thing that we like to let our children/teens know is it is ok to make a misstep or mistake when working on ourselves. Making a mistake once or twice has no measurable impact on your long-term habits. This is why you should treat failure like a scientist, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and develop strategies for getting back on track quickly. On average it takes 66 days of doing something to form the habit, some might take longer, some a little quicker, but one thing is for sure, if you don’t start you will never know how long it takes to get there.
At Cameron Pediatric we are here to teach you techniques that will help get you on the Better Mental Health Train. Not sure where to start? Give us a call and we will get you in to speak to one of our Pediatric Counselors, who can then assist you in implementing the right techniques and get you and your child/teen on the path to better mental health.
The first place to start is understanding that you want or need to make a change. Once you get there, we can help you with the rest. We focus our practice on working with children from 5-21 and have made a commitment to getting them a good foundation and assisting them down the path with their Mental Health. We are not a typical practice where we have a long waiting list, we schedule our appointments quickly and don’t make you wait to get the guidance you are looking for to assist your children/teens.
What new habit are you going to start working on to get on the road to better mental health?
“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” — Tyrion Lannister – Game of Thrones
