Time is relentless. No matter how much we may wish for it to slow, allowing us the opportunity to complete all those things that nag us in our day, it marches on still. It is cold, heartless, giving little care to us. Thus, we must always fight ourselves, hoping to master that ability to use the time we are given better — to not waste it.
Once again, I am at a point where trying to build better habits or to fix bad ones is the primary goal.
At the turning of each new year in the calendar (and at times in between), we look to build resolutions — or rather, we resolve to build habits, “good” ones, in order to improve some aspect of our lives. Those habits vary at least as diverse as the goals to which they aim.
What are habits, anyway? In short, a habit is a repetitious behavior, one that in many ways can be automatic. We do them almost entirely without the mind getting involved, as often we find that getting the mind involved does little once that habit is firmly established. At least, it does little to do anything other than create stress. These habits become encased in the operating system that moves humans through their day. We build them, sometimes quite easily and other times with great difficulty.
In a sense through habits, we try to build an automated operating system that allows us to move through each day with minimal energy loss to thought. But what automated system are we building?
Good habits are ones to which align us to a goal; bad habits take us away from goals. Otherwise, a habit is a habit is a habit. They just are behavioral processes we build.
It is funny how, for the most part, good habits are often processes that we have to build with purpose. They don’t happen by accident, needing almost constant tending, not unlike a garden, to cultivate and maintain. Conversely, bad habits almost seem to appear out of nowhere. They need no effort to form or maintain. Think of weeds in a garden, to stay on that metaphor.
If one were to consider this, it is easier to understand why it is almost a given that people fall off their goals so early after pursuing them. Why New Year’s resolutions tend to be short-lived, why diets fail, and why many people veritably spin their wheels when chasing after their dreams.
Forming good habits isn’t an afterthought in life, either. Many times, they stand in the front of one’s thoughts and considerations. We strive to make improvements, to progress through the journey of self improvement and goal seeking. Yet, we falter. Or we appear to become almost like sticklers to others, giving us pause. Life goes on. It places its demands upon us and we fall to meet them.
Writing has been my goal for many decades. Like many who hold tight to a dream, I tried many times to make it become a reality beyond the normal platitude of if you wrote a book or post to a blog, then you are a writer. Each time I flounder, having either taken my attention away from maintaining habits that push writing forward, or allowing bad habits to manifest and take over. It’s an endless cycle that I am certain that many others experience.
There is nothing in this current iteration that I am disillusioned with. I understand everything here turns back to me. Although I might struggle with a bout of writer’s block, it is ultimately because of the habits I build or those I allow to fester.
Once again, it is time to readjust and rebuild my habits. Writing is a part of it, yes, but there are also plenty of other areas I drifted too far away from, allowed too many weeds to take root in my metaphorical garden. It’s time to pull some of those weeds and plant something worthwhile.
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Jeremy C Kester 
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