I shared a few days ago that I was working not to sit cross-legged when I worked. I have made good progress on that, but then I sat cross-legged again and hurt my back.
I knew when I was doing it that it was wrong, but I was stressed and dealing with a tough situation at work and I had been sitting for 8 hours and ultimately worked another 4 hours. My lower back hurt and it was my fault, not the chair.
When stressed, sick or frustrated we often do what we are used to doing. I accept this. Another example was that I used to bite my nails. With time I learned not to do it. I just had to remember each time that I made a mistake that it was ok that I made a mistake, and that I was learning to not have that habit anymore.
Change is difficult. Our brain and body are used to doing things a certain way and we just need to show them that we prefer to do things a different way now. I didn’t get mad at myself for crossing my legs, I just accepted that since I was dealing with a larger and more pressing issue than my own comfort.
Ultimately though you can be comfortable and have good posture and deal with stressful situations with grace. I used to overeat in the past when I was stressed. I didn’t find that overeating made me feel any better. It often made me feel sick from what I ate, and I didn’t feel good being fat or skinny. I’d rather be healthy and that means that nutritious food goes into me and only in the amounts that I need.
We have a lot of reasons to do things that don’t help us, but we can reflect on our situation and change our behaviors. If we can not change our behavior, can we truly claim we have freedom?