The Story of Habituation

During the first month of this process I have experienced some of the main highs and lows of beginning a new way of living.  It is a fact, when a new movement begins it usually begins with fire and overtime they have a tendency to fade out.  It takes a great deal of commitment to stick with something and see it through to the very end.  Not only in my situation but also in each one of our daily lives.  We see examples of commitment in our jobs, relationships with friends and loved ones, attending church, in paying our bills every month, or in choosing to continue our education.  Some of these commitments may seem to transform into obligations over a period of time, such as we work in order to survive and pay the bills.  However, we do have the ultimate capacity to choose to what extent we let the more “mundane” tasks in our lives control our attitudes towards them. 

My point it what again?

I suppose I am thinking today about how our everyday lives become “mundane” and though we may not be in the place we are wanting to be in, we have to power within us to either let that control our thoughts and attitudes or not.  Life seems more and more to be about patience.  From a personal perspective, I am not very happy with my current weight.  Just the other day I thought, “You know if I just would’ve started this last year I would be so much further along”.  A statement like that is rather negative and can begin to take away from my current goal.  It will never help any of us to look at our current situation and simply see what we have not done or what we have left undone.  In my opinion, the “undone junk” in our lives could be very overwhelming for most of us.  Not only that but, sometimes the junk in our lives can become the mundane.  The things that used to bother us but now no longer seem to matter because A. we have gotten used to them and accept it as normal, B. we simply have become unaware of its negative presence, or C. it has become the impossible.  Honestly, all three of these possibilities can mingle together depending on our situations and perspectives. 

So why do we do this?  Why do our daily commitments become mere obligations or the junk in our lives become our lives? 

I do not feel any of us would do this purposely.  There is a term used in psychology called habituation, which means how it sounds, over time something that we see or experience on a normal basis can become normal or habit.  It seems our mind is programed to do this automatically, which, I am sure is for our benefit.  Think of going through life experiencing everything like it was for the very first time.  Seems overwhelming. 

So this is my thought for the week.  What commitment in our lives was once filled with fire but now has become fameless ash?  What mundane junk has become seemingly overwhelming?  I am positive we can all think of something.  Once you do I hope you will begin to understand it better and by understanding be able to see it differently or take control over it.  I do not wish to seem like a cheesy “self-help” guru.  Life is difficult and we can experience many things that we feel we never intended or asked for.  Something we do have the ability to control though is our attitudes towards the mundane or our ability to spark a new fire in something that has become dull.  Instead of thinking that this is an easy thing, my message is sort of the opposite.  Commitment in any form takes effort.  When we make the decision to turn the junk in our lives into something better we are making a commitment, which like all commitments will require us to be diligent and patient.  That in its self is not an easy task. 

A few weeks ago I made a request to a good friend of mine (who is more like family) to create something for me that would remind me every day to keep trying.  I gave her a part of a quote I found by Marie Curie that reads, “Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”  It will remind me every day that though I am not where I want to be, I have made a commitment to myself that I am going to better understand my “junk” so that I will be able to fully conquer my fears.

 

Thank you for reading and I wish you all the best  

Art by: Laurel Cooke (Love you Lala)