We don’t often believe that mere awareness can change things. We want to fight and grapple with the thing we’re trying to change. Whether it’s something relatively easy like getting up earlier or something difficult such as quitting smoking.
We usually want to fight and defeat the thing once and for all. Kill it. Unfortunately, the fight creates this strange tension that strengthens the behaviour. But the truth is awareness (a simple noticing of your thoughts and feelings surrounding the situation) is enough to shift patterns.
The trick is to observe the pattern without judgement or guilt, to just notice it at first. Acceptance, even if it’s a kind of resentful acceptance at first, can be enough to change things. It might not be easy, and it might take a while before you see some effects, but in my experience it does work.