Hard Habit To Break

People have habits. Whether good or bad habits we have to end it for some reasons. 

Do you have bad habits or vices? How did you manage to control it? What did you do before you decided to quit?

Let’s talk about bad habits first. What do you think drives people to do bad things over and over? Consider simple mannerisms. Three week ago, I posted about filming myself talking about the current teaching and learning process. It was a part of the task assigned to my son by his teacher in junior high. 

As I was watching the replay, I noticed several mannerisms while I was talking. There was the scratching on the back of my head even if it was not itchy, frequent touching of my nose, moving my head left and right, clearing my throat and other movements that are noticeable. In short I was not pleasing to the eye while talking in front of the camera. The reason was that I am a camera shy person.

Nevertheless I have delivered a five-minute speech about  education in front of a camera.

Memorabilia

Some people have the habit of picking up something as a souvenir. Most Pinoys have this habit. Don’t get me wrong here because I have talked to some or known people who have this attitude of picking memorabilia when visiting places. Honestly I also do that but not to the extent that I would do it because I needed it. You know there is this an unexplainable pleasure in doing this thing.

When I had the opportunity to travel for work related reasons, it was my first time to go on board an airplane. There were two Pinoys at my company for the same working place destination. When we got to the place and headed to the villa, I was surprised by one kababayan because he was able to pick up the blanket provided by the flight stewardess in the plane. I wasn’t aware the passengers could bring home those blankets. However I never did anything like that even if it was my first time. I already had photos documented on my smartphone.

There was also a TV show in one of the local TV stations in Manila where a celebrity guest admitted that she has this habit of picking up things as a souvenir.  As far as I can recall she said that she brings home a small spoon when she dines at a first class hotel restaurant.

I always mentioned in some of my posts that I was once a heavy drinker when I was still single. Then of course smoking is always part of drinking. It was a habit for me but not really a vice. Habits and vices are pretty much similar but they are two different things. 

When habits are uncontrollable it becomes a vices.

So far I was able to control my alcohol intake and my smoking habit. When I met my wife and had a family, my drinking habit had lessened. Although I still smoke, my maximum consumption of cigarettes a day was only three to five sticks.

When my kids are growing up, I no longer smoke at home. I only smoke when I’m at the office during breaks. Then I would drink during company events.

So it appears that the habit of smoking was once a big challenge for me. Before I worked at a BPO, I didn't normally buy cigarettes per pack because of low consumption. However, when I started working in this type of industry, my smoking habit tended to worsen. I just notice myself buying cigarettes per pack and I can consume six to eight sticks per day during office hours. 

Sometimes I think that it is really the nature of my work that I become more prone to risking my lungs due to smoking. In a sense it is because being a Workforce analyst is kind of stressful.

Yesterday's post, I mentioned that I rejoiced when I finally made it to work from home although it was kind of sad knowing that COVID was the reason for all of this. But whether we like it or not, there are good things that the lock down has brought to us. I need not have to mention all of them here because you know the good things the lock down brings.

Surprisingly I no longer smoke for sixteen months, not even once.

The last time I lit a cigarette for a smoke was March 15, 2020. Did I finally end my bad habit? I can’t tell for now. But honestly I am a person who doesn’t just go out and smoke at a distant store hiding from my kids. It was 550 days that I did not smoke and as of this current time.

So as much as I wanted to, I would prefer to just have work from home set up so that I can fully stop my habit of smoking. There is a lot of temptation in the office even if I wanted to stop and quit smoking. My old boss was a woman and she smoked. Sometimes she would ask me to join her for a “Yosi break” as she called it. So how can I resist?

I am looking forward to this bad habit of mine being completely stopped even if everything will go back to normal.

Some habits are really hard to end. Sometimes even if we want to quit, the people around us are not letting it go. So we just wished to vanish and live somewhere where people don’t have this habit we want to avoid.

But it’s not the people that influences us, it is yourself who can control these bad habits. It is only us who can end it if we really take time to discipline ourselves. Nobody but us. 

When was the last time you did your bad habit? How did you feel after that? Share it in the comments, I would love to read it. 

Thanks for reading. Ciao! 

Feel free to check my previous posts:

Sharing My Work From Home Experience

Little By Little

Faith Healer: Santigwar

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Lead image source

Photo Credits:

Ole Witt

Irina Iriser

Johan Godínez