It seems to me that habits have a way of slowly forming. Sometimes I don't even realise that something is a habit until I stop and think about it. Habits can occur when you are in a certain place or at a particular time of the day. Maybe a habit is related to mood or maybe even to circumstances outside of your control. Habits can include things like the food you buy and cook, where you put your keys when you get home, what type of subject matter you read, what you usually drink, where you put your shoes, the route you take to work and which hand you open a door with. If you subtracted from an average day the number of hours spent doing things habitually, roughly how much time would be left? Is that the time you actually get things done and make a difference with? That would be a good question for an employer to ask its employees.
We like habits in general, they are comfortable and familiar and we are usually in control of the situation. Stepping outside of that comfort zone takes courage and energy. It extends us in ways we don't perhaps understand at the time. Habits can be bad, there are obvious ones like smoking or drinking to excess and less obvious ones (to other people) that we are more inclined not to admit to, like buying shoes or clothes too often. Some habits are foisted upon us not through direct choice but by our own preference - like taking a route through a building to avoid a particular person.
Habits are interesting things aren't they? And I didn't have a clue what I would write about when I started this.
3 comments:
Interesting post!
Habits can be good too, like making a habit of cleaning up a room before you leave, or making a habit of feeding the cat before leaving for the day. I bought a key holder (it's actually a wooden decorative thing that reads "Keys" and has three hooks on it) and have it by my door, so that when I come home I make it a habit of hanging my keys up so that I know exactly where they are when I need them.
But yes, there are definitely bad, unhealthy habits too.
Doing something out of habit can be a blessing as it stops you screaming with how utterly mundane the task is.
Walking home from work is nice, doing the washing up after making an Irish stew is not. These are both things I do habitually.
If I thought about the soaking, scrubbing, examination, re-scrubbing and drying involved in the latter, the kids would be living on beans and toast!
Tomorrow, in your honour, I shall take a different road home from work.
Did you see the photos I took last Summer of my route to work?
All the best
x
E.
Tara: You've prompted me to have another thought - habits overlap with personality. If you're conscientious you're more likely to prioritize feeding the cat first before leaving the house. A habit could be the order in which you do things. And yes, I do agree, habits aren't necessarily a bad thing.
Eliza: I habitually wash up, make the kids lunches, drink coffee etc. What's the difference between rituals and habits? I'll go and check out your photos now, routes we take are sometimes fascinating things. For me, a route is determined by familiarity, food or obsessive interest.
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