My inquiry question was: How does developing healthy habits contribute to living a healthy lifestyle?

I wanted to use the process of this free inquiry project to become a more organized, responsible and happy person as at the beginning of the semester I felt disorganized and it was hard for me to create habits and routines like I had in the past. My overall goal was to improve my mental well-being by freeing up space in my brain and daily life to complete my best work and stay on task even when things get difficult.

The final habit that I have chosen to focus on is a continuation of last week in that I want to keep journaling as a way to clear my head and stay on top of my previously developed habits. This week for my journaling I wanted to kind of wrap up the proccess of my inquiry and see how It has affected my mindset and what I have learned since the beginning. To do so, I wanted to refelct on my questions that I asked at the beginning of the proccess which were:

  • What is the process of developing a habit, is it easy or difficult?
  • How does a habit become unhealthy?
  • What is the best way to get into the routine of a habit?

The main takeaways from my journaling on this throughout the week were:

1.)

  • I believe that the process of developing a habit depends on your mood towards it. I found that when I was eager and motivated to bring a habit into my daily life, then it become easy to develop.
  • For example, when I focused on the habit of going to bed early I found myself so excited to go to sleep at a good time and wake up feeling rested. This lead to a quick implementation of the habit that stuck and turned into a routine.
  • Sometimes when the the habit was not as appealing to me, like when I tried to drink more water I found myself often forgetting. It was difficult for me to make this into a regular habit.

2.)

  • I think that I was able to understand when a habit becomes unhealthy by seeing the impacts of a healthy habit. When the habit was healthy I would feel less stressed, more realized and happier than I was before I completed a habit.
  • A unhealthy habit does not leave you with these same feelings, instead it might leave you feeling more stressed.
  • For me an unhealthy habit that I tried to break was focusing too much on school and not having any time to relax. By having this free inquiry and trying out different habit each week, I allowed myself to break away from this unhealthy habit and find ways to create joy and peace in some of the stress form the semester.

3.)

  • Throughout this inquiry journey I have found that the best way to get into the routine of a habit is to track it. Having my inquiry post each week gave me the motivation to keep tracking my progress with it.
  • I also found that having a planner/mood journal/ journaling can be a great tool to reflect on your habit and visually see the positive effects of your habit which can motivate you to continue to pursue it.

I believe that I have achieved my overall goal of improving my mental well-being. By giving myself time to practice and develop healthy habits, I have become less stressed and feel more on top of my work and life. I am really grateful for this opportunity to develop these habits and I can’t wait to keep working on them and hopefully incorporate a couple more throughout the year!

Photos from my inquiry process