21 Habits To Stop That Will Instantly Improve Your Life

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3 days ago

Sometimes, life doesn't get better by adding something — it gets better by letting go. When u/Same-Tea1899 asked, "What's one thing you stopped doing that instantly made your life better?" people shared the surprisingly small habits, mindsets, and toxic patterns they let go of that completely transformed their well-being. Here's what they had to say:
"I stopped lying to myself. I accepted that there are things about me that had to be changed. I accepted the fact that I believed some things that were harming me. I accepted the fact that I had made mistakes. I can't explain the relief of being able to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'You messed up bad, but you can learn from your mistakes and move on and try not to mess up anymore. You're not perfect and that's cool, just try to be better going forward.'"
"Not sleeping. I used to pull all-nighters regularly. I probably spent the better part of the last two decades constantly sleep-deprived. Forget that. I sleep now. I don't care what urgent matters there are and what demons are whispering in my ears — I check out, even if it takes a bit of help with meds. It has improved my quality of life by several orders of magnitude."
"People-pleasing."
"Waiting for someone to join to experience something."
"Not exercising at all. Exercising makes me feel much better in general."
"Overthinking texts before sending them."
"Doomscrolling every moment I pick up the phone. Gone from four hours of daily phone use to two hours. Still some work to be done, but feeling much better."
"I went no contact with a toxic narcissist relative."
"Trying to manage other people's happiness. I am an adult. The people around me are adults. It's their job to tell me if they're upset, not my job to sense their mood changes and react before they get mad. They're grown adults — they can speak up if they're upset."
"Eating a terrible diet."
"I kicked a 14-year opioid habit. I'm 2.5 years off. Whether it's pills, booze, sex, drugs...addiction is so hard. Those asking for advice: find an 'anchor.' My anchor is my husband and child. They keep me tethered to reality and sobriety because I want them to be proud of me (and they are, of course). I know how hard addiction is, and I am so proud of the fighters and survivors and the success stories. Keep fighting!"
"I had a friend who was definitely a bad influence. Had to walk away from them."
"Stop overanalyzing what people say to me."
"Deleted Facebook."
"Stopped smoking."
"Not saving money. Once I get my salary, I take out 1,000 (of my currency) and split it into two accounts — one for long-term savings and one for emergency savings. Seeing the amount grow over time and seeing that I have backup money really, really soothes my heart."
"Quit drinking alcohol."
"I quit worrying about my neighbors seeing me embarrass myself while I work on my garden in the front yard."
"Smoking weed. Turns out what I thought was making me happier was driving me deeper into depression and exacerbating mental illness. Who knew? 600 days clean today."
"I stopped holding in my anger and blowing up at random times. Now, I just express what I'm angry about instead of invalidating the feeling. Instead of suppressing it, shoving it down, and slowly turning it into resentment."
Have you cut something out of your life that made everything better? Let us know what you stopped doing that changed your life for the better in the comments — you never know who it might help!