Why We Slip Back into Old Habits — and How to Break Free for Good

Introduction – Slipping Back Into Old Habits — And How to Catch Yourself Early

You promise yourself this time it will be different. You feel powerful, focused, and ready to change. And for a few days—or even weeks—you actually do. You walk daily, eat clean, stay away from distractions, and feel like you’re finally becoming the version of yourself you always wanted to be. There’s clarity, momentum, and a deep sense of control.

But then, something shifts. Not suddenly—slowly. Silently.

One day, I noticed something strange. Not in my actions, but in my thoughts. Old thoughts crept in—the kind where I’d tell myself it’s okay to skip one walk or convince myself that junk food after a hard day is deserved.

I wasn’t just slipping; I was sweet-talking myself into giving up. I paused and gave it a real thought. And then I found I had allowed myself to eat unhealthy food a couple of times—thinking it’s okay. But those couple of times became a pattern. A small comfort soon became a regular compromise.

Then, it extended. I began scrolling on my phone again at night. At first, I told myself it’s just for 5–10 minutes. A harmless escape before sleep. But on some nights, those few minutes quietly turned into an hour or two.

That’s when I realized: the same old friend was back. The same old habits were trying to make their way back into my life—not with force, but with familiarity. Not as a storm, but as a slow fog.

This blog is about that phase. It wasn’t a fall. It was more like a quiet slide—so slow, I almost missed it. No breakdown. Just a gentle drift back into the patterns I thought I had left behind.” And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: it’s not weakness. It’s a warning.

The good news? If we become aware early—and respond without shame—we don’t have to crash. We can catch ourselves. Reset. And come back, again.

Section 2: The High of Change — Staying Motivated After Building New Habits

There’s something magical about the start of a transformation. Whether it’s a decision to lose weight, quit an addiction, build a routine, or simply take control of your life again—the beginning is often filled with energy.

 You feel unstoppable. Every small success feels like a big win. The mirror starts smiling back. The guilt starts fading. And for a while, it feels like nothing can pull you back to your old ways.

I experienced this high myself when I started taking small but intentional steps—walking daily with my daughter, adding a bit of slow jogging, avoiding late-night junk, staying away from mobile distractions.

I felt clear, alive, and focused. Like something within me was finally aligning. It wasn’t just about health or routine—I felt lighter inside, like I was finally in sync with the kind of man and father I wanted to become. I was showing up for myself, and it felt powerful.

In those moments, it’s easy to believe that this version of you is permanent. That you’ve conquered the worst, and the past can’t touch you anymore. But that’s the tricky part. Motivation is like a spark—it’s powerful, but it doesn’t last forever. Without structure and self-awareness and a powerful system, even the brightest fire can burn out.

That’s when the real test begins—not when you’re rising, but when the initial high starts fading. The shift from willpower to discipline. From emotion to system. And unless you’re prepared for that drop, the old patterns are always waiting to return.

Section 3: The Weak Moments — How to Spot Old Habits Returning

Old habits don’t die. They wait. And they’re patient.

They don’t knock on your door loudly or announce their return. They just wait—for the right moment. A moment when you’re tired, sleep-deprived, emotionally drained, or simply too distracted to notice. That’s when they slowly creep back in. Not as enemies, but as old friends—familiar, comforting, and dangerously convincing.

It often starts innocently. You tell yourself, “I’ve been consistent, I deserve a break.” You skip a walk because the baby cried all night. You order food because there wasn’t time to cook. You scroll your phone longer because you feel too exhausted to think. And slowly, without realizing it, you’re not choosing what’s right—you’re choosing what’s easy.

These aren’t big failures. They are micro-slips. Small decisions that feel harmless in the moment but start forming new patterns. The same patterns you once fought so hard to break. The problem is, they don’t feel like threats. They feel like relief.

But recognizing them—in the moment—is everything. Because if you let the old song play too long, if you delay hitting the pause button, then the next comeback becomes far more difficult.

I relate this to something I studied in medical school. When we give a patient an antibiotic (much like how we give ourselves determination or discipline to fight a bad habit), we must maintain the right dose and schedule. If the antibiotic course is incomplete or misused, the bacteria don’t just survive—they become resistant. The same antibiotic stops working next time. And we either need a much stronger drug—or an entirely new one.

It’s the same with our habits. If we keep letting them return and override our systems, our old patterns become more resistant to change. We’ll need more motivation, stronger reasons, or deeper pain to fight back the next time. So, it’s not about being perfect—it’s about being alert. Weak moments are our early warnings. Catching them early is the real strength.

Section 4: How I Recognized My Own Slips — and Stopped the Backslide

For a while, I didn’t even realize I was slipping. Life was busy. The babies needed attention. Work had its own stress. And slowly, the idea of “taking it easy for a while” became my excuse. I convinced myself that I deserved this small escape, this comfort, this break from discipline. After all, wasn’t I already doing so much?

But one evening, something clicked. I noticed a thought pattern in me that felt too familiar. It wasn’t just what I was doing—it was what I was feeling. The same emotions. The same guilt after eating junk late at night. The same empty feeling after scrolling endlessly. The same frustration when I missed my walk. The same self-talk that said, “It’s okay, you’ll start fresh tomorrow.” But most importantly—the same weight on the weighing machine. That one number hit me hard. It wasn’t just a physical metric. It was proof that I was quietly moving back toward a life I had once promised myself I wouldn’t return to.

That’s when I realized the truth: I had left the door open. And that open door—was food. That small indiscipline of allowing junk food in “just for a day or two” had quietly become the entry point. And through that door, everything else came in. The laziness. The late-night mobile scrolling. The lack of energy. The loss of clarity. It all started because I told myself food didn’t matter that much. But it did. Because for me, food isn’t just about hunger—it’s emotional, it’s psychological, and it’s deeply tied to every other habit I’m trying to build.

It wasn’t easy to admit. There’s a part of us that hates being wrong—especially when we’ve already told ourselves (and maybe others) that we’ve changed. But this time, I didn’t let my ego cover it up. I didn’t deny it, and I didn’t shame myself either.

I simply said to myself: “Okay. I see it now. I’ve been here before. And I know what to do.”

That one honest moment—without excuses, without drama—was the beginning of my return. And I’ve learned that this awareness, this quiet honesty, is far more powerful than any burst of motivation.

Section 5 Your WHY Comes First — Staying Committed to Change

Before you build any technique, routine, or strategy—you need to ask yourself one uncomfortable question:
Why do you want to change in the first place?

Because real change isn’t about fixing habits—it’s about burying a part of your old self. It’s a kind of death.
And death is not easy. It takes grief. It takes courage.
You must be sure that the part you’re letting go of—the lazy, addicted, distracted version of you—is worth leaving behind.
And for that, your cause must be stronger than your excuses.

We all say we want to be better. We all say we want to improve—for our spouse, for our kids, for our future.
But when the pain of discipline shows up… we hide.
When it’s time to give up food cravings, mobile scrolling, ego, and comfort—we quit.
Why?
Because the why we told ourselves was never real to begin with.

In my case, the cause was my babies.

Yes, we all say we love our children.
But I had to face a brutal truth: Am I really ready to change for them?
Or am I just saying it to sound good, to feel good?

Most of the time, the answer is painfully clear—we can’t.
We say “I can do anything for my child,”
But we can’t even fight our own phone addiction.
We say “I want to be a good father,”
But we can’t control what we eat, how we sleep, or how we react.
We’re not even able to keep promises to ourselves—how will we show the right path to someone else?

Every time I failed—every time I slipped—I stopped blaming tiredness, the babies, the stress.
I just sat.
Silently.
And stared at my cause.
I’d think deeply: “What will happen to my babies if they grow up watching a father who always breaks his own word?”
“What will I feel if one day my son becomes just like me—not because of genes, but because of what I showed him every day?”

That pain… it used to break something inside me.
But it also lit a fire.

I began putting more fuel into my why.
I started writing about it in my diary—writing how I wanted them to grow, how I didn’t want to be a reason for their pain.
I began carrying their photo in my pocket—my tiny anchor.
And I made a daily ritual:
I’d take it out, look at their faces, and quietly imagine them saying to me:
“I’m proud of you, Daddy.”

That one moment… that one sentence…
It destroyed every excuse.

Because when your “why” is strong enough—you don’t beg for motivation. You become unstoppable.

So, I say this to anyone who’s struggling like me:
Please, find your WHY. And fuel it daily.
Not once.
Not when things fall apart.
Every single day.

Section 6: Techniques I Use to Catch Myself Early and Break Bad Habits

Comeback doesn’t fail in one big blow.

It fails in small, slow, silent relapses.

And the worst part is—we don’t even notice until we’re deep in the pit again.

That’s why now I follow these simple techniques. No fancy system. Just raw self-checks that help me catch the old version of me when it starts creeping in

1. Audit Yourself Daily (Initially Twice Daily)

I started writing in my journal What I ate, what I was thinking, how my energy felt.

This tiny audit helped me spot the indiscipline creeping in early. Especially food.

Food is the first door the old habits use to sneak in. So, I focus hard on food discipline—because once that’s back, the rest aligns.

2. Deal with Shame, Don’t Let It Burn Everything

When you slip, the guilt feels so heavy, so sharp—you feel like a failure. You tell yourself “What’s the point? I’ve ruined it again.” And then you burn everything you built. But I changed that mindset. This is not a perfect score game. This is war. You may lose a few battles—but keep showing up for the war.

At the start, I aimed for 70–80% success rate. That’s all. Over time, your baseline improves. Now I stay above 95% without much effort. But it began with accepting failure… without giving up.

3. Fuel Your Cause (Visualise It)

Every single day, I remind myself why I started. I look at my babies’ photo. I imagine them saying, “we are proud of you, Daddy.” I visualise the cost of my failure—the kind of father I’ll become if I let go again. This pain, this picture—it fuels me. If your WHY is weak, your willpower will collapse eventually. So, fuel your cause every single day.

4. Journal Daily

Not just when things go wrong—but every day. Even if it’s 2 lines. Even if it’s scribbles.

My journal became my mirror. A place where I couldn’t lie to myself. It showed me patterns. It saved me from myself.

These aren’t techniques to impress anyone. They are tools to survive—to protect my comeback.

And they work. Silently. Steadily. Honestly.

Section 7: Closing Words — How to Avoid Slipping Back Into Old Habits for Good

I know now…It’s never really about one big decision. It’s the small ones—the one bite of junk food, the one skipped walk, the one thought you didn’t challenge. That’s how it starts again. Quietly. Slowly. But surely.

I’ve gone through this loop so many times, I’ve lost count. Big promises, high motivation, new rituals… and then, one weak moment. And the old self walks back in like it never left. But now, I see it. Now I know how it creeps in. And because I know, I can choose differently.

This time, I’m not waiting to collapse.
This time, I’m not starting from scratch again.
This time, I’m staying. Watching. Holding myself gently, but firmly.
Because I’ve seen what’s at stake.

And if you’re reading this and you feel like you’re back where you started—
No, you’re not. You have more awareness now. More clarity.
You’re not failing. You’re learning how to stay awake.

Let’s not aim for perfect.
Let’s aim for awake.
Let’s not aim to impress.
Let’s aim to stay connected to our why.
And if we fall, let’s fall with our eyes open—and rise faster this time.

It’s not over.
And it never really is.
Only if you stop noticing.

Read more about my breakthrough into good habits The Power of Food Discipline: My struggle and Breakthrough