Habits. A settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. That is the definition of those routines we find hard to break or those actions we do without being aware that we are doing them. We all have at least one habit. Maybe it’s drinking a cup of tea or coffee in the morning or maybe it’s cracking your knuckles so much that it drives people crazy! It is like a routine. There is such thing as good and bad habits no matter what you may think. Good habits include, exercising regularly, thinking optimistically, waking up early, finishing work on time, drinking water instead of juice and many more. These habits are good habits because they have a positive impact on you and/or others around you. Bad habits can include, a quick temper, nail biting, swearing, drinking too much alcohol, checking your devices every other minute and of course smoking among others. These habits are bad because they have negative impact on you and/or others around you.

I decided to write this article because I myself have habits let say a bad habit and I’m not alone.

A habit is formed when you do something repeatedly, and then becomes automatic. You rarely ever notice when you are doing this habit because you don’t need to think about. You just do it. It’s kind of like practice makes perfect. For example… Riding a bike. At first it’s hard, but the more and more you do it, the easier and easier it becomes. It’s similar with… biting your nails. At first you do it because you have nothing to do and you are bored. You find that doing it soothes you and makes you feel like you are busy. You continue doing it and then BAM!!!!! A habit is formed!!

At school I have a friend who has glasses and she always pushes them up on the bridge of her nose, like me. Well she wears contacts sometimes and since she’s so accustomed to wearing and pushing up her glasses, she kept pushing up invisible glasses as if they were there. Also my sister cracks her knuckles a lot. She cracks them on tables, against her hands and even on me! These are habits that many people can relate to. People can also be annoyed with some of our habits.

A bad habit is a habit that you want to get rid of. It is an undesirable habit. There are ways to get rid of any of those bad habits if you try! What you need is willpower!! Many habits are a form of nervousness like stammering, nail biting and licking your lips.

Good habits are hard to acquire and easy to drop, whereas bad ones are easy to get and hard to drop.

“We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” – John Dryden
So if we make bad habits, we “become” these bad habits and they become part of us. But if we make good habits those habits will become part of us.

Which good habit are you working on acquiring?

Serena Wambura