It begins, like most things in my life, with a book.
Over the weekend, I read Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It was an interesting book for many reasons, but I can't stop thinking about the book's final chapter. In it, Duhigg poses the question that has been living in my head: once we are aware of our bad habits, do we have a responsibility to change them?
I know all about my bad habits. I bite my nails, I eat too fast, and I never make the bed, but those are not the things that have kept Charles Duhigg's question ringing in my head. As I sit here in my bed, typing this and mulling things over, I am about 60 pounds over the weight I'd like to be, and closer to 80 pounds over the recommended weight for my height.
Jesus, 80 pounds. Looking at it in print like that is completely horrifying. The funny thing about weight is that it creeps on, a little here, a little there, and before you know it, you're hyperventilating at a number on the screen. But I digress...
Anyway, I know that I have bad habits. My diet is terrible, and I very rarely (may as well say never) exercise. But wait!! an inner voice protests. You work full time, go to school part time, and have two young children and a husband you'd like to see once in a while! Better quality food is expensive, and you already have no time to cook! These things are all true, and they are things I've told myself again and again, listing all the reasons I can't make a change.
If we are aware of our bad habits, do we have a responsibility to change them? I am starting to believe that I do, and because of that, I am committing myself to a course of change. Using the strategies in The Power of Habit, and any other tricks I can find, I am going to overwrite my bad habits, and lead a healthier life.
Damn you, Charles Duhigg.
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