The Choice is Yours

Are you aware of your own habits? Do you have any? Are you prone to eating belly bombers? Is that considered a bad habit?  Are habits important? Are they easy to change? What do they tell you about someone?

I attended Catholic grammar school and high school and we all wore uniforms yet the nuns who taught us wore “habits.” Why were their uniforms called “habits?” Have you ever wondered about that? They sure looked like uniforms to me.

When does a habit morph into a routine? Are the two interchangeable? My husband goes to Starbucks every morning for coffee. If he works from home he drives to the Starbucks closest to us and picks up his favorite coffee. If he works in Manhattan, he stops at the Starbucks in Penn Station to get his favorite coffee. He has made it a habit to get Starbucks coffee every work day. (I know what you are thinking…wow, her husband spends a lot of money on coffee while she’s trying to budget and save money. Hold that thought, it’s good info for a later Blog.) You could say my husband’s daily routine involves a morning Starbucks coffee. So, is the coffee a habit or a routine? Or, is it simply a part of a routine? It gets confusing, doesn’t it?

It’s interesting to me that a habit can either be good or bad. For example, it’s a bad habit to crack your knuckles however, it’s a good habit to brush your teeth every day. Who is the person in charge of branding a habit either good or bad? Is there an organization that reviews habits and deems them good or bad? I don’t think so. I think your parents are responsible to teach you this whole habit thing. They are the ones that teach you the difference between right and wrong, hence, good and bad habits. They instruct you on all these worldly things as you mature and once you are old enough, you start noticing all of their bad habits! It seems like a cyclical thing to me because once you question their bad habits they question whether they should have clued you in on habits at all.

Can a habit also be a superstition? For example, some Major League baseball pitchers make it a habit NOT to step on the infield white line when walking out to the mound. I have a habit of making my bed every morning as soon as I wake up. It has become a superstition for me. Gosh only knows what might happen if I overslept and ran out of the house before making my bed. Thank goodness I’ll never know at this point!

Can habits rule your life? I think they can if you let them. I once worked with someone who planned out their work clothes two weeks at a time. She methodically placed her outfits in order in her closet so that each morning she wore the next outfit in line. She would never deviate once they were placed in line. So, if it was pouring, teaming rain and she had a dress previously selected for that day, she would not wear her pants suit lined up for the following day. Could her habit have morphed into an obsession? While I try not to judge…

All this thinking about habits has made me conclude that habits come to define us. If your life is filled with good, wholesome habits, you are most likely living a nice, fulfilling life. If your habits are full of actions you wish you could change, you are probably not as fulfilled as you’d like to be right now. The really good news is that habits can be changed and developed to help you better your life. The key is to choose the right habits that fit with your goals. I believe habits help you create routines and routines can either help you grow or drag you down. With all the new changes in my life recently, I am taking a long, hard look at my habits. I am trying to change those that need changing and instill new ones into my life to help me grow.   When was the last time you took a look at your own habits? Are you happy with them?

P.S. I must admit, I am still a little confused on the habit vs. uniform thing with the nuns. According to Google, they were wearing habits. Dual definition. Who knew?