My Tiny Habits Movement

Frankly speaking, I’ve never heard of “Tiny Habits” before I was introduced it in the class. When I first saw the video, I thought it’s an interesting idea and it reminded me of another tip my friend Anne, who is also a bipolar like I am, shared with me:  During a depressive episode,  we usually find ourself lack of motivation to go out and do whatever, for example, to get exposed to some sunshine even when we’re aware that it’s gonna make us feel better. Her doctor told her not to think about “going out”, just think about leaning forward, and when you lean forward, one of your feet would step forward and the other one automatically, and everything after that would happen automatically. Just like the “Tiny Habits,” approach, leaning forward here is the simple trigger that makes the following happen. I found it’s a very useful tip, but I‘ve never tried to use it to form a good habit or to stop a bad habit. Thus, I was very excited and set up my 3 plans. Unfortunately, I got victories on none of them. However, I still learned a lot this week.

First when I was making the plan: I never know to make a plan of a “tiny” thing could be this difficult, it’s really hard to keep things “tiny” especially when I have an expectation of I’m going to get rid of something! I think this might be why I failed: I shouldn’t think that much. :p  Another thing I got from making a plan is: I started to think how that bad habit happens and I started to break the chain in a habit. —but I think this might be another reason why I failed: I shouldn’t think about breaking the chain when I was making the plan.

The second thing I realized from my failure is: Maybe I should take physiological condition into account. For example, one of my plan was trying to stop myself from staying in bed. I made a plan of turning over (later I changed my plan to other movements) after I hear my alarm. But it never works…. When I was talking about this with my family, I was reminded that I have genetic hypotension and it’s been hard for me (since I was little) to immediately get up like other do. How can I ask my body to do something that it’s not ready to do yet? It’s nothing about motivation either.  Then I think of the example of cookie, what if someone pursuing a cookie is because of his/her physiological needs? What if that cookie is important to his/her physiological function?