Why even good habits can have unpleasant consequences

Good habits help you lead a healthy lifestyle, become a better person and build relationships with others. However, they can also lead to unexpected consequences if taken to extremes.

Let's figure out what unpleasant consequences you can face if you forget about moderation when it comes to healthy habits. But first, let's talk about how our cravings are basically formed and why they can be so hard to maintain.

How habits are formed

Good habits are behaviors that we can practice intentionally or unconsciously to change our lives for the better.

Their power lies in their consistency: by repeating the same behaviors day in and day out, you automatize them and make them a solid part of your being.

Habit formation is also influenced by neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to form new neural connections. When we repeatedly perform the same action, the brain creates strong neural pathways that cause a certain behavior to become a habit.

Remarkably, our good habits have a ripple effect. That is, by implementing one positive habit in your life, you may unwittingly improve other aspects of your being as well.

Why even good habits can have unpleasant consequences

Of course, good habits have many benefits: they help us grow as individuals, take care of our health, and be happier.

But too much of a good thing can also be bad. Healthy habits taken to extremes have a dark side - here are a few consequences to face if you go overboard in your quest to become a better person.

Overexertion and burnout

If you're overzealous in your efforts to develop good habits, you may not notice how pleasurable activities become the cause of overexertion and burnout.

For example, a laudable commitment to exercise and going to the gym often translates into overtraining and striving for unrealistic goals. And diligence beyond all reason can lead not to excellent results and a beautiful figure, but to sports injuries, disappointment in your endeavor, lack of motivation and the feeling that you simply bored with everything.

To reap the benefits of regular exercise, you need to strike a balance between pushing your limits and avoiding overexertion.

The same goes for other healthy habits. For example, adhering to an optimistic outlook on life is great, but it can also burn you out if your intention degenerates into toxic positivity, causing you to ignore negativity and hide unpleasant feelings away.

The simple conclusion is that if you don't want good habits to start poisoning your life, try to maintain moderation and a common sense approach to everything you do.

Neglect of other important areas of life

Sometimes intense concentration on one positive habit can lead to neglecting other important aspects of life.

For example, you can become so immersed in organizing and planning your schedule that you leave no room for spontaneous joy. You begin to act like a robot that is programmed to perform certain tasks, forgetting that some aspects of life may require your undivided attention here and now, not when you have a window in your schedule.

So, while trying to accomplish all your scheduled tasks for the day, you may ignore socializing with your loved ones and other enjoyable things. What will this lead to? Increased stress levels, as well as a feeling of monotony and lack of something interesting in life.

And in this case, achieving balance is the pill for the negative effects of a good habit. Yes, you can make plans for the day and for the week, but you should keep in mind that you won't be able to keep everything under control at once.

It's important to remember that good habits should contribute to your well-being, not create new problems - that's why when you're trying to get your life in order, you need to leave room for small pleasures and the occasional adventure. So it's worth deviating from your plans from time to time to make time for something important and meaningful, like answering an unexpected call from a friend or making time for a nice, relaxing activity.

Perfectionism and anxiety

Striving for good habits can turn into an unhealthy obsession with perfection.

For example, you're trying to stick to a healthy diet to improve your health. By obsessing too much about calories, healthfulness and quantity of food, you may unwittingly cross the line that separates good nutrition from obsession with newfangled diets and dubious advice from the internet.

Trying to find the best, you cross the boundaries of reasonableness, which negatively affects your health, and also experience increased anxiety and stress when you deviate from the diet or do not get the results you dreamed of.

Good habits don't have to be a source of anxiety, feelings of pressure and frustration. Perfectionism developed in the midst of striving for a good habit only brings discomfort, fear of failure, and burnout. So, if you feel that positive striving is starting to get you down, it's worth reconsidering your goals and approach to life, abandoning the idea of perfection.