Why Bad Habits Are So Hard To Break, Per Astrology
The reason it's so hard for you to quit.
Pexels Everyone has bad habits, but no one really thinks as hard about them until a new year rolls around.
For example, an Aries zodiac sign may have a bad habit of being overly pushy when things don't go as planned.
A money horoscope sign may have a habit of being overly frugal when it's time to spend more, and instead of generousity kicking in, they feel afraid to be without down the road.
And if you're the kind of person who takes New Year's resolutions seriously, then you know how exhausting it can be to take stock of all your bad habits just to see which one you're going to try to give up for a year.
Or monthly, if you follow Moon phases or pay attention to solar returns in your personal astrology.
RELATED: What Each Zodiac Sign Is Addicted To
No one likes being called out for not being a perfect human being, but resolving to eat healthier or go to the gym on a regular basis is like dragging yourself for liking white cheddar popcorn and binge-watching The Bachelor.
Plus, good or bad, a habit is like putting your brain on autopilot. Setting a New Year's resolution to watch The Bachelor on the treadmill instead of in your favorite sweat pants on the couch is something totally new that you're not familiar with, which means it takes more work to get used to this new "habit" you've made for yourself.
What I'm trying to say here is that you shouldn't beat yourself up for not being able to break a bad habit or set a new good habit right away – it takes serious work to form a new routine! We all have reasons for not being able to give up our bad habits, no matter what those habits are.
Even the most disciplined zodiac sign has trouble quitting something they know isn't very healthy for them. The key to making a new habit stick – or to give up a bad habit – is to change the way your brain thinks.
Getting the brain to shift from doing things out of habit (like it's on autopilot) to goal-directing behavior is something you have to actively train yourself to do.
Eventually, after making your goal-directed behavior a routine, your brain will consider it a habit. Some vices are part of a being human and are more beneficial than good. Those are the type that may be the hardest to break when taken to an extreme. It's the little bad habits that make the good ones necessary to relearn, and that's part of the problem in keeping a promise to yourself (and perhaps why you break them, too.)
For example, if one of your New Year's resolutions is to go to the gym every day, you need to train your brain into thinking that going to the gym is a habit you can do on autopilot. If you get home from work every day totally exhausted, your new goal-directed behavior would be to bring your gym clothes to work and immediate head to the gym at 5:00 instead of home.
Or, if you just can't make that work, your goal-directed behavior could be to set your alarm earlier in the mornings and go to the gym before work. Before you know it, your body will be used to making that detour before getting ready for work or before heading home for the day.
Another thing that helps? Try adopting a new, good habit instead of focusing on giving up a bad one. Keeping your outlook positive can sometimes make it easier for a good habit to stick. For example, resolve to try a meal delivery service or take a cooking class instead of quitting eating junk food.
A new year isn't obviously the only time you can give up your bad habit, but it certainly is a good time to start fresh and do something good for yourself.
Here is why your zodiac sign can't give up your bad habit, according to astrology, by horoscope date.
ARIES (March 21 - April 19)
Aries, it's hard for you to give up your bad habit because you tend to be pretty impulsive. You could be totally resolved to change your ways, but the minute you find yourself in a situation where you could either say no to your bad habit or give in to it, you somehow always end up giving in.
Don't get us wrong, you're great at starting new things – especially because that's when your motivation to succeed is the highest – but seeing things through can be tough.
So, while you might be able to take the steps to quit your bad habit, or actually quit for a while, you always come back to it. Your pride can make you want to hide your failure from others and even shrug it off like you didn't even care in the first place.
TAURUS (April 20 - May 20)
Taurus, you have a hard time giving up your bad habit because you prefer instant gratification. If you don't see positive results from quitting your bad habit within a week tops, then what's the point? This is especially true if other people have quit your same habit and told you it was hard.
You also tend to have trouble because you can be very lazy at times. Why put in the effort to quit something you enjoy (even though it's bad) when you could just not quit and not have to put in the extra effort, amirite? You know that way of thinking can be dangerous, but you also don't always have the motivation to keep up with your promise to change.
GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)
There are times when you really do want to succeed, Gemini. You might be all set for the long road ahead... until you realize how long that road actually is. That's when you start compromising, like saying if you cut out sugar one day, you can have it the next day. Risky games, Gemini.
If you plan on quitting your bad habit and actually sticking with it to the end, you need accountability. You work much better in teams, and there's something motivating about having someone on your side working through a bad habit just like you.
It can even make you excited to put in the effort. Plus, holding someone else accountable will make you feel more inclined to succeed.
CANCER (June 21 - July 22)
Everyone has a bad habit that they're dealing with, yourself included, Cancer. But being the mother hen of the zodiac means you often put your own needs aside to take care of others. It also means that you can find yourself way too busying keeping everyone else in line to quit yourself.
Because you're so busy making sure everyone else in your life makes good decisions, you don't have any responsibility for yourself. You might be thinking that you have a strong enough will to quit your bad habit all on your own, but the truth is that you're really just giving yourself permission to slack off or not quit at all since no one is around to make sure you're doing any work.
LEO (July 23 - August 22)
The reason you can't give up your bad habit, Leo, is because you have a penchant for being overindulgent and excessive. You like enjoying yourself, and it shows when it comes to looking back on how far you've come (or how little progress you've made) on your journey to quit.
You seem to have a hard time finding the perfect balance between too much and not enough. Quitting a bad habit cold turkey isn't for everyone, but indulging until you get sick of your bad habit doesn't really work for you, either. It's going to take you some time to find what works, especially because everyone's journey is different. Give yourself time to work out the kinks.
VIRGO (August 23 - September 22)
When you think about quitting a bad habit, Virgo, you do all the research. You make notes, you look at other people's success stories, and you schedule out exactly what you need to do to succeed. Only thing is, you don't prepare for chaos – otherwise known as real life.
You can do everything by the book, but when it comes right down to it, life is unpredictable. The main reason you have a hard time quitting your bad habit is because if your plans aren't perfect, you quit. You don't give yourself any room to grow or make mistakes, which means you're just setting yourself up for failure every single time.
LIBRA (September 23 - October 22)
Libra, the main reason you can't give up your bad habit is because you have a hard time finding balance. You're not exactly sure what works for you, so you spend a lot of time finding that perfect harmony between give and take.
You also tend to be an all or nothing kind of person. If you decide to keep up with your bad habit, you indulge in it completely. If you want to quit, you go cold turkey.
It might be a better idea to take things slowly, but pacing yourself isn't exactly your forte. It can take a very long time for you to find your equilibrium, but unless you start changing how you handle quitting bad habits, you're not likely to get there anytime soon.
SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21)
You're kind of a special case, Scorpio. At first, you might find yourself flat-out refusing to quit your bad habit because you're scared of failing. But you might also have a fear of succeeding. You're not sure what the future holds when you start your journey, and that can be scary to you.
What happens if you actually succeed? What happens if you don't? You're not sure what to think, and hearing how other people handle quitting their own bad habits doesn't really do much to assuage your fears. You have a hard time accepting that quitting can be hard, and that fact alone can make you not even want to try.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21)
Life is a learning curve for you, Sagittarius. You have bad habits just like the rest of us, but when you really do want to quit, you try very hard to stick with it.
Because it can take a while for new habits to stick, you may quit one thing multiple times before living without your bad habit is permanent. You're not worried, though.
You know that it can take a while to learn from your mistakes and try new strategies. It's not so much that you can't give up your bad habit but that it can take a long time to actually get where you want to be in life.
CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19)
You like to live by a certain set of rules, Capricorn. You believe that guidelines and rules are there to help people, so when you hear stories about people cutting corner to help them give up their bad habits, it rubs you the wrong way.
You can sometimes find yourself policing others and trying to get them to do things by the book, but what you forget is that everyone's journey is different. What works for someone else might not work for you and vice versa. All of this hyper-vigilance of others stops you from giving up your own habits. What you really need is someone to root for you and keep you on track.
AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18)
You might be an independent person, Aquarius, but if you're going to succeed at giving up your habits, you prefer having others to do it with you. They don't have to be giving up the same bad habit as you, but just knowing that you're not going it alone helps keep you in line.
Another reason you have a hard time quitting your bad habit is because you might not consider it necessarily bad. You tend to function on a different wavelength than other zodiac signs.
You might be able to convince yourself (and others) that your habit isn't as bad as other habits. It's a convoluted way of thinking about it, but until you stop twisting the truth, you're going to keep failing.
PISCES (February 19 - March 20)
The main reason you have a hard time giving up your bad habit, Pisces, is because you tend to make too many sacrifices. Rather than pacing yourself or starting slow, you quit cold turkey before realizing that you did too much, too fast.
You also tend to blame others for your habits instead of taking responsibility. If you're out with friends, you might not say no to a round of drinks, but you will blame them for making you drink too much.
Because you never see yourself as responsible, you never see a reason to quit your bad habits. If it weren't for other people, you wouldn't have these bad habits, right? Not so much, Pisces.
Emily Ratay is a full-time writer living in Pittsburgh. She's passionate about the environment and feminism, and knows that anything is possible in the right pair of shoes. She plans on writing a non-fiction book in the future.