Nov 11, 2020
ESSAY | SELF-IMPROVEMENT
New Habit?
The 100 Questions Challenge — #12
Today’s question — What new habit can I start?
I scoff at those who claim a new habit can be formed in twenty-one days — Just who do they think they are foolin’? Certainly not me. Now bad habits, oh yes, I can pick those up in a snap! And because of my additive personality, they usually end up as obsessive addictions and not mere habits. Like my long time addiction to smoking. I finally gave it up by trying a new habit — vaping, with the thoughts that I would hate vaping so much, eventually I would just quit any form of smoking. It did take me months to switch from being a full-time cigarette smoker to a full-time vaper, but now I am addicted to vaping. That worked out really well, didn’t it?
So why would I even contemplate beginning a new habit if it will just end up as a new obsession? I know my doctor would love if I would consider walking a mile every day as a habit, but that would require willpower and I am sadly lacking in that at the moment. I don’t even know what beginning a new habit would do to my already fractured routines and schedules. And do I honestly have the stamina these days to commit to something for three to six months that it would take for me to form that new habit? I don’t think so.
Sadly, my plate is already too full. It takes all my energy just to maintain the few habits I already have — meditation, mental health routines, writing, and eking out time for reading, cleaning, and other favorite online activities. Not to mention spending time with my spouse, friends and family.
However, I don’t want to end this on a Debby-Downer moment. I won’t rule out the possibility of a new habit presenting itself to me. This has happened in the past and it took me a while to implement it (daily meditation), so I won’t absolutely say no, never, not gonna happen. If the Divine or my muses, or someone, some thing equally persuasive were to come along and say to me, try this — sure I might give it a go. I won’t ever close myself off to possibilities.
© 2020 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
I have accepted Dusty Holcomb’s 100 Question Challenge. Each day (or as often as possible) I will answer a new question from 100 Questions That Will Transform Your Life. I will write either poetry, vignettes, creative non-fiction or personal essays on the questions — it will all depend on inspiration and/or mood.
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community.
