As always with the ringing in of the New Year, I self-examine. This not only happens with the purchase of the new yearly calendar but also almost every Monday throughout the year. I have bad habits and sometimes they almost rule my life. I’m not alone, though, am I?
“When you say that someone is a ‘creature of habit’, you mean that this person is so comfortable in their current lifestyle that they have for the most part ceased to be spontaneous in any way. Most everything that they do is done by force of habit rather than by instinct (as animals do) or by conscious decision or by whim.”
I am wondering why it is so very easy to give up an easy habit but almost impossible to give up a bad habit? There are plenty of self-help books and sites on the subject. I think a person could get lost in reading through quotes and references on the subject. ” To really get ride of a bad habit, you should replace it with a good one. You have to want to get rid of the bad habits, and you must practice and work at it in order to change.” I think the key word here is ‘change’.
For more years than I can count on my fingers and toes, I was a chronic nail biter. My poor parents yelled, coerced, bribed and just about everything else under the sun to get me to quit chewing. When I was very young, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal but as I grew into adulthood, it became very embarrassing. I became an expert at curling my fingers whenever in public to hide my disgusting habit. I longingly looked at other women’s long, painted, and bejeweled nails. I made numerous attempts at quitting but could never quite do it. Now being a recovered nail biter, I’m still mystified how I could quit and never look back. I don’t really miss it but can sometimes can feel the claws in my psyche when I have a broken and uneven nail feeling the need to ‘make it even’ and yes, I’ve had a few set-backs over the years.
Is it self-discipline that I’m missing? What does it take to find this holy grail?
What magic? I already know the answer. We all do. There’s nothing special. There’s no secrets. A person doesn’t even need to consult a psychic or read a book. The real support comes from within. When we’re wearing our habits, we tend to make little deals with ourselves to lessen our guilt. True? I have an arsenal of fabulous deals I’ve made. Let’s say I eat something super unhealthy for dinner. My mind whispers, “well, you can eat really healthy for the rest of the week.” The week goes on and yes, I do make some healthy choices but it seems that I somehow make more deals with myself. Why it is so easy to make a bad choice over a good one?
Again, I know I’m not alone in my struggles. I can look around a gym full of people and know, without a doubt, there are those struggling with habits and addictions. I can turn on my television and be aghast at the reality shows focusing on bizarre human nature. I often wonder why there are so many of these types of shows but then, I know. We want to tune in and know that there are folks out there with much worse behavioral issues than our own. I KNOW that I’m not 600 lbs. I KNOW that I don’t need to have an intervention. I KNOW that while I stack stuff that I am not a hoarder. That’s just part of it though. What I do KNOW is that I have my own set of issues that I need to be dealing with and that, yes, they are easy to overcome if I just set my mind to it. Any of us can do that, can’t we? One of the articles I read was to replace a bad habit with a good habit. That doesn’t seem so intimidating. It’s nothing really. We can choose what kind of habit to wear. Mine, well, it’ll probably be a bit askew.
