Good and Bad habits on WYD Pilgrimage

We all have bad habits that we would love to eliminate from our lives.  Perhaps we know we eat too much or watch too much TV or waste too much time online.  There are also bad habits that we don't know that we have until we change our routine.  A pilgrimage experience is something that will highlight some of our bad habits because it changes our daily routine.  But do we really want to dump our detoxing from our bad habits on our fellow pilgrims?

Recently I heard someone say that the best way to break a habit to start a new habit.  Sometimes we want to break an unhealthy eating pattern and we focus on not eating.  Instead of focusing on stopping an unhealthy eating pattern we should replace it with a good eating habit.  Replacing the old habit with a new more specific habit will give us something positive to work on.

Here are three tips for dealing with your good and bad habits whilst on pilgrimage to WYD:

1. Cut out the bad habits before you leave: it isn't fair to detox from your bad habits whilst on pilgrimage.  We all get a little grumpy when we are breaking a bad habit so start breaking from the habit before you leave for WYD.  Start a few weeks early so that you are prepared for the pilgrimage. For example I will try cutting down my coffee intake weeks before so that all the other pilgrims don't have to put up with my grumpy mood.  What bad habits can you cut out of your routine leading up to pilgrimage?
2. Start the good habits whilst on pilgrimage:  it is easy to develop a daily routine whilst on pilgrimage.  It is the perfect time to start a new habit that you would like to develop.  Perhaps it is daily meditation or scripture reading.  Perhaps you want to start being more tidy or being on time, pilgrimage is a great place to start.  What good habit can you work on whilst on pilgrimage?
3. Make it specific: it is not much point having a big idea about radically changing your life, we have to get specific.  We have to break down the changes we want to make into manageable steps.  Whilst we should all be searching for something whilst on pilgrimage, it is up to God to make the big changes not us.  We should pick something specific and achievable that we can work on each day.

Leave a comment about some of the changes that you would like to make on pilgrimage.  Maybe your comment will encourage another reader to make the change they need to make in their life.