Emily McDonald explains how habits work: a trigger activates a neural loop you can't erase, but you can plan a new response instead. She used vaping as an example, replacing it with deep breaths or drinking water through a straw, since many cravings are just a need for oxygen.
Change the automatic response. You have to decide beforehand what you want your new habit to be. The loop already exists in your brain. The trigger is already triggering your brain. So while we can't necessarily erase neural pathways in our brain like they do in Men in Black, we can replace the bad habit with a new behavior. What am I going to do when I am triggered? What am I going to do instead? Now, for me, With vaping, something that I decided to do was I was going to take a deep breath. Every time I get triggered, I'm going to take a deep breath. Or, you know, because vaping can be like a mouth fixation thing, I would take a drink of water, like drink through my straw, or I would literally pretend to like breathe in air. But something that I noticed also though was a lot of the time when I was craving, what I really did need was a deep breath. Like whatever it is, get clear on what your triggers are and decide on a new habit that you are going to replace the bad habit with.
