Changing habitual behavior can be very challenging because of the urge or desire to resort to previous addictive habits. Often the affected individual finds it hard to resist temptations in the first stages of change because of external factors like peers and the environment. The decision to change is often intentional where the patient has to make a firm decision and adhere to the process after identifying potential factors that may lead to temptations. As I had mentioned previously, I consider myself to be in the preparation stage, whereby I have tried on several occasions to stop my habit of eating junk food and have even made the firm decision to adhere to the process of change.
Readiness Ruler
Rollnick created the readiness rule as a tool to measure a patient's readiness to change addictive behaviors using a scale of one to ten. The lower values in the scale represent a lower readiness rating compared to the higher values. The progress I have made so far on my own gives me confidence that I am almost halfway to realizing full recovery in my process of quitting junk foods. My main concern at this stage is that I have not yet sought out professional help, which would be very beneficial in accurately determining my score on the readiness scale. There are three main factors in the readiness scale measured, including importance, confidence, and readiness.
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Importance
The importance scale measures the level of urgency or importance for the change. The need to change my habit of eating junk food is fundamental and critical to self-improvement. Breaking this habit is important so that I can begin new habits of healthy eating, going to the gym more and dedicating more time to acquiring knowledge and skills compared to watching movies for a whole night. Therefore, my self-improvement journey is extremely dependent on the importance of changing my addictive behaviors. Accordingly, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the importance to change at 7. To increase this value on the importance scale, I would need to limit any meetups with my friends.
Confidence
The confidence scale measures the ability of an individual to change current addictive behaviors and their confidence in their ability to change. I have strong faith in myself that I have made the necessary steps to stop my addictive habit of eating junk food. On the confidence scale, I would consider a value of 5 regarding my confidence to stop the habit. I have chosen this value because I still have some doubts regarding my relationship with friends after rejecting their invitations to meetup. It has affected me psychologically as I am a very outgoing person and not very comfortable avoiding social interaction. To increase this value, I would consider finding alternative ways to spend my time on constructive activities with friends while maintaining restraint to avoid junk food. Example activities include swimming and taking up a dance class.
Readiness
The readiness scale measures the willingness to change addictive behaviors immediately. I am willing to change my addictive behavior, and I have even made positive progress in the process. However, I still feel that by not involving professional help to measure my progress accurately, I appear as if I have not yet fully shown my willingness to change my behavior. My next project will be to finds a suitable and reliable therapist to reinforce my willingness to change my junk food eating behavior. Therefore. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the readiness scale, I would consider myself having a value of 4. I have chosen this value because seeking professional assistance is a significant step in quantifying my readiness and willingness to change. I, therefore, need to achieve this goal to increase my score on the readiness scale.
