Let’s drink to the death of a dirty habit!

Do you have a habit that bugs you?

Germs, Goser, 4Get — (Photo credit: funkandjazz)

I’ll be honest – I’ve got my share of them. I’ve got old habits, new habits – some that I’ve broken but I haven’t gotten rid of them all. I stopped sucking my thumb when I was twelve years old. I did it because the dentist asked me to, and I have never had a problem with it since. I quit smoking over three years ago, too. You could say I’ve trained myself to not lose my temper when things don’t go well – that’s a continual process, but I count it as quit because I’m quite in control.

I’d love to quit some more things, like:

biting my nails. When I run out – of fingernails, that is – it tends to look bad and I then move on to worrying less vestigial parts of my fingertips. I would save myself a lot of trouble if I could just stop.
Often I wish alcohol had never been invented, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
I’d like to turn off the switch in my head that makes me want to buy things. Right now I’m on the search for a better winter coat that I really don’t need; I’m almost certain that I’m trying to make myself happy somehow, but I don’t think a coat is going to do it, so there’s this epic internal battle over that.
I’d like to stop making myself promises I can’t keep, as though I’m going to be able to write these long stories – only I can’t get through the first draft because I work so much and my free time is so broken and fleeting that I have no time to get into the groove. I’m seriously considering a change of professional venue right now – and I’m convinced that it would actually be beneficial to our long-term financial situation – but I can’t do anything about that until after the holidays. If I were to do that, it would mean learning a trade in the process for free, becoming certified; taking a modest pay cut now, but with regular raises and wages that scale with the cost of living I’d be making more in less than two years than I am now; better, cheaper insurance; and a schedule that my wife and I can count on and work around. That last one is the real deal, because that’s been the big point of contention at my current job. BIG.

Sometimes I wish there were a way to parlay my bad habits into something that works out for the better, but at the end of the post they are just bad habits and they need to be quit, plain and simple.

This post was prompted by yesterday’s Daily Post prompt.

8 comments

deanabo says:

October 27, 2013 at 7:30 am

This is quite a list. Not at all unlike my own.

- Rob's Surf Report says:
  
  October 27, 2013 at 7:44 am
  
  Ha ha, sometimes I think great writers drink alike. 🙂
  
The Indecisive Eejit says:

October 27, 2013 at 5:22 pm

*Holds hand up* I’m guilty of a few of these too, especially the buying to make myself happy, now I’m paying off my years of buying and can#t afford to make myself happy anymore lol

- Rob's Surf Report says:
  
  October 27, 2013 at 6:41 pm
  
  Been there. 🙂 all I can say is, they won’t ever stop trying to get you to buy!
  
  - The Indecisive Eejit says:
    
    October 27, 2013 at 6:44 pm
    
    Coats are so overrated! Wrap a towel around your shoulders lol
    
    - Rob's Surf Report says:
      
      October 27, 2013 at 8:18 pm
      
      Ha ha, we live in Antarctica, essentially, four to six months out of the year. A towel won’t do the trick.
      
Andra Watkins says:

October 28, 2013 at 8:59 pm

We can always find ways to improve. I don’t have the courage to list my bad habits on my blog, but I will tell you that glitter shellac and a manicurist cured me of nail biting. 🙂

- Rob's Surf Report says:
  
  October 28, 2013 at 9:37 pm
  
  See, that one comes and goes, too. Sometimes I do quite well and sometimes I’m nearly uncontrollable.