…and old habits hard to break!
“You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks is a common phrase that means it is challenging to teach a person something new, usually because that person has been doing things a certain way for so long that they’re too stubborn to learn how to do it differently.”
Yes, full disclosure, I’m an old dog, living the first year of my seventh decade. In dog years, I’m 10 going on 11. I’m also at the threshold of changing habits, again. It’s challenging; I’ve been doing some of the same things for so long — the task of undoing them and replacing with new behaviors — seems impossible.
I find wisdom in ‘old sayings,’ tropes from the past. I often reveal my age by some of the sayings I employ that younger generations find archaic. Old wives’ tales is a collection of some of those claims. From Wikipedia, “An old wives’ tale is a supposed truth which is actually spurious or a superstition. It can be said sometimes to be a type of urban legend, said to be passed down by older women to a younger generation. Such tales are considered superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or inaccurate details. Old wives’ tales often center on women’s traditional concerns, such as pregnancy, puberty, social relations, health, herbalism and nutrition.”
In addition to “You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks,” “Old habits are hard to break,” is another example, and is currently front and center for me as I embark on changes in my behavior, breaking old habits and making new habits. Yes, I’ve learned, again, again, that new habits are hard to make.
New Habits Are Hard to Make
I have osteoarthritis in my knees and hip. It runs in both sides of my family. I’m also overweight, pretty sedentary, and practice the eating habits and enjoy the food preferences from the Midwest and the comfort foods I grew up with, lots of carbs, proteins including red meat, fats, dairy, and sugar.
). ‘Old wives tales’ promoted the belief that when the weather changes, before it rains or snows, the barometric pressure changes, and you can feel it in your bones. I did yesterday. Now some doctors think it’s a medically accurate predictor.
Barometer measuring pressure.
“Changes in barometric pressure can cause expansion and contraction of tendons, muscles, bones and scar tissues, resulting in pain in the tissues that are affected by arthritis. Low temperatures may also increase the thickness of joint fluids, making them stiffer and perhaps more sensitive to pain during movement.”
In my teens and twenties, I was physically active and held jobs that could be described as primarily physical labor. I walked a lot and biked to work. Beginning in my thirties, and for the rest of my working career, including today half-time, I’ve held sedentary desk jobs.
In an effort to avoid going under the knife for a knee replacement, I’m in a nonsurgical osteoarthritis program at UW Health. I have a team I’m working with, an orthopedic doctor, a nutritionist, physical therapist, and a psychologist/coach, plus some aids, Nourishly, a food accountability app, and Voltaren arthritis pain relief gel.
I’m tasked to eat a healthier diet, to make choices that will minimize inflammation with the secondary goal of losing weight to take pressure off my joints. I’ve chosen The Mediterranean Method plan to follow. To increase my mobility and flexibility, I have a series of physical therapy exercises to incorporate. Lastly, if I get stuck, which I already have, I’ll meet with a coach to help me overcome my resistance. It takes a village!
Progress Not Perfection
Before I go any further detailing the struggles integrating these new habits in my daily life, I want to acknowledge some of the successes I’ve had in the past. You may have noticed in the subhead that precedes this I’m borrowing a slogan from 12-Step recovery programs. The wisdom in slogans, like ‘old sayings,’ are earned by lived experience. I’m a person in recovery for over 35 years and when I look back, I’ve had to make changes in habits that were unhealthy, addictions that were difficult to break and threatened my life, including alcohol and nicotine.
Like most of the people in my life during these past 18 months, I’ve also had to make drastic changes, incorporating new daily habits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those include: Sheltering-in-place social-distancing, face masks in public, and practicing good hygiene. As the Delta variant’s transmissibility threatens the unvaccinated and causes breakthrough infections, my quarantine Pod Squad 2.0 has rebooted.
One Step at a Time
Since I enjoy food in both healthy and unhealthy ways, I have a lifelong history of dieting, beginning as a teenager taking doctor-prescribed Dexedrine (yes, you read that correctly!). Other diets followed: Weight Watchers, Atkins, Keto, and the list goes on.
Like many others, I’ve had temporary success losing weight, yet failed to maintain my weight. I’m the classic yo-yo dieter. Lose weight, gain some back, and raise my set point. I’ve been everything from a women’s size 8 to size 28. Read more about my relationship with food, diets, and visits to the plastic food ladies (nutritionists) in Related Reading from Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! at the end of this essay. Oh, My!
The good news, I also enjoy cooking. I thought that would be a good place to start in 
creating new osteoarthritis healthy habits. I like cookbooks, searching for recipes online, and trying new dishes. Since I live alone, do all the grocery shopping and cooking, I’m 100% responsible for what goes in my shopping cart, on my plate, and in my belly. I can’t blame anyone else. It’s on me, both literally and figuratively. All I need to do is look in the mirror or step on a scale.
Next up, stop procrastinating about beginning and integrating physical therapy exercises into my daily routine. According to a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology “It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic.”
In addition to the new Mediterranean cooking food plan and physical therapy exercises, osteoarthritis aids need to be folded into my daily habits, Nourishly, the eating accountability app, and Voltaren OTC arthritis relief gel as needed.
I’m an advocate of the message in another slogan, KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid (I’m editing it for myself, Keep It Simple Sister). I need to step off of the couch, start my day with physical therapy exercises, make healthy food choices, be accountable, and treat the pain as needed. I’ll do this one step at a time, break a habit one at a time, and create a new habit in its place.
Yes, in the end the work is pretty simple, yet requires commitment, discipline, and self-care. I’m up for the challenge!
Related Reading from Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!
Comfort Food: Winter Blues, Holidays, & Weight Gain
The Skinny on Medicalized Obesity
Procrastination Station: Dysfunction Junction
Additional Reading on Habits
How Long Does It Take for a New Behavior to Become Automatic?
How to Break Any Bad Habit Forever