It’s okay to miss your old bad habit. It’s funny to say such a thing. After all, you’re improving. You’re getting better. It’s like you’ve got yourself a new pair of slippers. They’re clean with nice colors. The lining hasn’t worn away. They’re not like your old slippers. But, still, you miss those old slippers sometimes. You had them for a long time. Sure, they weren’t as comfortable as they used to be. The dog chewed them and there was a hole in the left big toe, but they were your slippers. It was almost like they were a part of you.
“It’s silly,” you think to yourself, “why should I miss those old things? After all, look at my new ones!” But, still, the new ones don’t feel like you. At least not yet.
It’s the same with replacing your old bad habits for good ones. It’s not only that your old habit worked for you in some way. It did, that’s why you had it. It’s more than that. In some sense, your old habit was
part of who you were. Maybe part of being you was indulging in yummy, but fattening, late night snacks. Or, maybe part of being you was always being the one with sarcastic joke. Or, maybe you were always the last one to complete work-assignments. And it’s not only what you thought of you. It’s what others thought of you. You were “snack woman,” or “sarcastic guy.” You might have gained some amount of social identification, some kind of esteem among your peers, with those labels.
Now, you’re changing yourself for the better. Congratulations are in order, of course. But don’t be surprised if you miss your old bad habit. It’s just like missing those old slippers. You need to give yourself time to “break in” that new habit. Don’t worry. In no time it will feel like you’ve had it forever. That’s when it’s time to start work on a new habit!
1 comments:
That's so true, if a habit became a part of someone's identity it would be really hard to quit it
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