Habits

The natural order of things is that we live our lives the way that we're used to living. That means everything that we do, subconsciously or consciously- has some type of purpose. 

They take control of our lives, they enable us to do some things, while disabling us from doing others. They might prevent us from getting jobs, or even be harmful to our health. 

But others can be good for you. Some habits aren't bad at all- they can consist of things you do for other people. certain things can even be good for you personally as well- which is where habits come from. It's something that you do to make yourself feel better. Being all part of your own brain that tells you as the person that you're happy if you do this one certain thing. 

What if you decided that today you're going to do something ELSE beside that every time you get a craving or even feeling that nagging feeling in the back of your head that you would do something else instead? 

I remember when my mother decided she was going to stop smoking that she had said she was going to eat a piece of candy every time she got a craving for a cigarette. It takes dedication to trick our minds into thinking something is the other, but eventually she was able to stop. 

Personally, when I'm getting in a bad mood about my job, some customer is being difficult I try to remember how much fun I had writing in my blog in the morning; how fresh and good the coffee tasted this morning, how beautiful my wife is, the cuteness of my puppy- and that I am working towards a goal. Something I know will eventually have me doing something that I truly love. 

Once you start thinking that way you'll crave things that are better for you, now candy isn't good for you by any means but making your mind tell you that " Hey, I'd rather have you write and make yourself feel better. " than, " Hey, why haven't we had a cigarette in the last 2 minutes?" 

Even as a kid I had problems dealing with addictions and habits. I had four-legged friends, was homeschooled, and lived an hour away from the closest town. It was hard for me to get through my own difficulty in life and the only thing I had for a while was books and a game. 

World of Warcraft could have ruined me, and if I had let it take over my life even as an adult I knew I wouldn't be doing a lot. I could have taken that time I used when I was playing to write out books, and read more- discover worlds that I never knew existed in my own brain.

 I didn't. After I did my chores, I rushed as fast as I could to get inside to play. Even sneaking in a couple of times just to log in to say that I did. To run my character around for a few minutes- just enough to sate my desire to be in front of that computer moving a character that didn't exists. A data stream that was saved on a server somewhere in California. 

I remember the feeling it caused when I couldn't play, the desire to have that in my life- to see what was happening in a virtual world, to talk and see friends that I craved to have. 

Then I grew up, I moved away- got a real job where I didn't have time to play those games anymore. I got better ideas for my writing and decided that it would be best if I filled my time with that.

I still had problems with the game occasionally- I would get bored of being an adult and tried playing, even my friends that I was now getting in the real world also struggled with the same habits I did as a teenager. They all tried to get me into those things, but I retained my own and after several years, I finally was free of those games. 

There are still games that I could play, but I have an addictive personality- if something is fun or good I want to do it until I am done. It's all a part of our lives here in this world.

My goal is to fill these addictive ideas and thoughts into something that I can use to be productive. For the most part it has worked. I am writing more than I ever have, consecutively that is. Writing the blog is bringing ideas into my mind, allowing me to think about that and crave my mornings where I can just sink into my music and let the worlds flow. 

Though there are still goals in blog writing. I want to start actually creating prose for my stories- I want to get into the depth of my creativity and actually publish a book.  

For anyone else struggling with addictions or even bad habits- just try to replace it for one day with something that you know will make you feel better. Not even a better person, you can't change that in one day. Try to do something different than going outside to smoke a cigarette or log into your game for a night. You might like the way it makes you feel! 

Good luck!