There are many things we do every day that aren’t good habits. Which common practices should we stop normalizing? You’ll find 19 examples of them in this article.
Raising Our Voice
We’ve all done it. We’ve been in a disagreement with someone and then raised our voice to drown out the other person. What we’re really saying when we do this is that we don’t care about what the other person says. This is very rude.
Interrupting
When someone interrupts you, it can make “you feel insignificant and unimportant—that what you are trying to say isn’t worthy of being listened to,” says VeryWell Mind. But although we hate it when others interrupt us, we still interrupt others while they speak. This is something we must stop doing.
Disengaging
We’ve all found our minds wandering when in important meetings or even when someone else talks to us. This is rude and shows the person who’s speaking that we don’t find them interesting. This is something we do often but should stop doing ASAP.
Envying
Envy is when you’re jealous of what someone else has and wish that you had it instead. We might envy our neighbor’s car, our coworker’s relationship, or even our friend’s good cooking. Envy is a bad trait that we often manifest when someone has something we want. It’s not healthy.
Finishing Sentences
We think we know where someone is going with their sentence, but instead of allowing them a couple of seconds to finish it, we cut them off and finish the sentence for them. How much time did we save? Milliseconds at best. But in just a few seconds, we’ve come across as impatient and rude.
Going to Bed Too Late
According to the Mayo Clinic, adults need at least 7 hours of sleep each night. But many of us go to bed after 11 p.m. every weekday and then wake up early in the morning for work. We’re not getting enough rest and are not productive the following day.
Speaking While Eating
We’ve all been guilty of eating and speaking at the same time. Many of us do this every day. But trying to talk to others while we have food in our mouths is not only difficult for us, but it’s also unpleasant for those around us.
Slandering
We hate it when other people speak badly about us, but even still, we speak badly about others. Some of us do this every day. We talk badly about our coworkers or our boss to our families. We speak badly about our in-laws to our friends. Slander is normal, although it shouldn’t be.
Seeking Revenge
Someone did something to us that was spiteful, and now we want to pay the person back with the same harsh treatment they gave us. Seeking revenge is a normal part of life, but it’s very destructive. We should stop doing this.
Giving the Silent Treatment
We’ve all been there when we’ve given someone the silent treatment. It’s most likely that we have given the silent treatment to members of our families or those whom we live with. However, the silent treatment doesn’t resolve anything and makes the situation more frustrating for everyone involved.
Gossiping
The figures from TLC show that “the average person gossips for 52 minutes a day. That’s almost an hour a day that is dedicated to gossip.” Gossip is very addictive, which is why it’s so common. But what we often forget is how destructive gossip is.
Working Too Much
Many of us are working, not just from Monday to Friday but an odd evening a week and even on the weekend. We barely have any time for ourselves. Overtime has become commonplace in many workplaces. But working too much isn’t good, as we all need time to rest.
Holding Grudges
We can all think of someone we simply cannot seem to forgive. The person may have wronged us weeks, months, or even years ago and we still can’t speak to them calmly. Just the thought of them makes us angry. Feelings like these are harmful, and we should try to forgive.
Cheating
Have you ever handed in a piece of work that wasn’t yours? Sometimes, people copy the answers from the internet or pay someone to write a paper for them. Although these practices don’t surprise anyone, they should, because they are dishonest.
Lying
Fibbing, white lies, porkies—no matter how you phrase them, lies are still lies. How much do we lie? Statistics from Cross River Therapy show that while “men lie about six times a day, women lie three times a day, on average.” Lying is something we shouldn’t do, but we’re often guilty of it.
Speeding
Although the speed limits where we live might seem overly restrictive, they are there for a reason. We drive normally in areas where police check speeds or where there are speed cameras, but then, as soon as we’re out of that range, we slam our foot on the accelerator.
Cutting Others Off in Traffic
Cutting others off is something that many people do. Instead of waiting for a reasonable-sized gap to pull out into, we impatiently cut in front of the person who is coming down the road. That person has to break quickly to avoid hitting us. This isn’t good driving, and we should stop it.
Blaming Others
Instead of taking responsibility for our actions, we’ve all tried to blame someone or something else when we fail others. But in reality, others can see behind our excuses. The fact that we have tried to cover our error makes us look even more irresponsible.
Overcommitting
We all want to do our best to help others, but sometimes we overdo it. We’re exhausted at the end of the day and barely have any time for important things, like our friends and family. We need to learn to say ‘no’ and be realistic about what we can achieve.
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