According to Aristotle (and others), humans are creatures of habit.
Naturally, we tend to develop and then frequently repeat certain actions, dispositions, practices, customs, mannerisms, usages, etc (actually, there was a teacher at my high school who habitually ended her every sentence with "et cetera". Like many personal habits, it was totally unnecessary and quite irritating).
Habits can be helpful, because they allow us to get on with life without having to concentrate on everyday things such as making breakfast or answering when someone asks "How are you?"
It's obviously beneficial to develop healthy habits; hence children are taught to wash their hands before eating and to clean their teeth before going to bed. Habits can be harmless and idiosyncratic, like my aforementioned teacher's habit (before it became annoying).
Habits are difficult to develop, and even more difficult to ditch, as anyone with a bad habit is sure to know.
Occasionally, habits slip into the realms of obsession and addiction, though the borderlines of such psychological geography can be regrettably (conveniently?) undefined. Every summer, vows (often in the form of "New Year's resolutions") are made by all sorts of people looking to use their holiday as a chance to make or break a habit.
Unfortunately, it's a cliche to say that within two weeks the resolutions have been forgotten - or destroyed - and life resumes as it was, albeit a little more resigned. As the summer holidays come to an end, I find myself wistfully wondering ... what on Earth have I been doing for the past three months?
In my defence, I've been working, of course. And, during my time off, I've partaken in leisurely hobbies.
Slowly but surely we develop and alter habits in the course of the holiday period; often habits we never meant to change. The most common shifting of habit under holiday influence has got to be our circadian rhythm: tick-tock, body clock. Oh, the working-day woes of early starts after stat day sleep-ins! It seems nothing throws a habitual creature further out of whack ... And no matter how determinedly the alarm is set, it's so much easier to ignore when it's inconsequential.
Is it any surprise that holiday resolutions never last?
The poor routine-deprived body can barely get out of bed, let alone continue to lose weight and exercise itself through the trauma of readjusted habits.
My personal aim is to bring some pre-holiday habits back into the game, before attempting to add any new ones.
Isn't it funny how, as the amount of recreational time increases, the management of said time seems drastically to decrease?
For me (and for most other students), no doubt time management would be a very useful habit to resurrect before the semester begins.
Furthermore, it's always a shock to the social system when a few family members are exchanged for colleagues (flatties and fellow students); naturally, certain liberties will need to be reined in ...
Personal washing remains the responsibility of the person; borrowing means asking first; hot water becomes liquid gold, et cetera, et cetera.
Whoops, there's that "et cetera" again. Yes, humans are creatures of habit.
But did I mention habits are contagious?
- Katie Kenny studies English at the University of Otago.
