The Creatures of Habit

I’m one of those people who usually finds new year’s resolutions silly. It makes me think why do people procrastinate so much? Why do you have to wait until the new year to better yourself? To work towards your goals, your dreams. What is it that stops us from committing to what we actually want to achieve. Is it laziness, habit or routine? Or perhaps we don’t really want to better ourselves that much and the new year is just a convenient excuse to procrastinate. Then January comes along and surely enough, most of us slip up after a few days of stopping to do x or starting to do y. Surely, there are people who seem to stick to it and make it past the January checkpoint.

I remember seeing a story on TV a long time ago about a guy who wanted to lose weight and was very unhappy with himself. So on January first he started running. In the cold of the winter, through snow and ice, he just started running. And yes, he got sick, threw up and all that, but he committed to it. He commited to it so much that he actually became an Olympic athlete. I don’t want to lie and say that he got a gold medal just because I don’t remember all the details, but he might as well could have. I think he did.

Getting out & staying out of your comfort zone

So some people really do stick to it and overcome those initial difficulties. Those little thoughts that tell you “No, go back to your comfort zone, you don’t really want it THAT much. Go back to how it was before – it was so easy, remember?”. It’s like there’s this little creature whispering in your ear and telling you to get back to the couch and cancel your gym membership, buy that pack of cigarettes or keep mindlessly scrolling through countless social media posts. Those little creatures really do attack us whenever we want to change something in our lives. Because they are creatures of habit and when you leave your comfort zone they will do everything they can to pull you back in. They’ll tell you it’s not worth it, that you can start next month, that it’s too cold outside, too hard or not the right thing for you.

But there’s something inside you that made you commit to this resolution in the first place. There’s something you’re not happy with, that you want to change. You want to learn, you want to grow, you want to be a better version of yourself. So just remember what made you make this decision, take a deep breath and focus on your goal. Go out of your comfort zone far enough that you silence that little creature whispering in your ear. The only one you need to listen to is yourself – your mind, your body and your heart. You can do this!

What I want to achieve

This year I’ve really been thinking about my place in the universe and if I’m in harmony with myself and my surroundings. I’m not. So I want to work on that. I want to be more mindful of how I treat my body and my mind as well as the world around me. As well as find a balance between mental and physical health. I want to be mindful of how I treat the environment and what I do to make the world to be a better place. Honestly, I don’t even know what all that means, but it’s something I can’t stop thinking about. Hopefully those creatures of habit will also be confused as to what I’m trying to change and will leave me alone. But if they come, I’ll be ready to fight them.