Written by: Safal Gautam - 22016, Grade XI
Posted on: 16 June, 2021
Good habits are something all of us should cultivate, and have or own if we want to gain respect or recognition from our peers or within our society. It is also a behaviour that is beneficial to one's physical and mental health, linked to a high level of discipline and self-control.
From a young age, we have been told by our parents, elders and teachers about the differences between good and bad habits, while focusing on us to help us develop good habits beneficial for ourselves.Yet, why do we find ourselves gaining bad habits or why we find bad habits more fascinating rather than good habits at a certain age? The problem lies in our mentality and thinking. The age where a person develops his bad habits is basically when he/she has reached puberty. This is the age when we come in contact or different things as our mentality changes due to the hormones secreted by our body.
This is a sensitive period in which most of our habits develop no matter if they are bad or good. It is because we cannot differentiate between good and bad thus easily get influenced by things we see or hear from people or from our surroundings. This doesn't mean that you won’t develop good habits or bad habits when you go past the stage of puberty but this period is the most important one. Teenagers get in contact with drugs, alcohol and smoking at this age. They get intrigued with things related to the changes in their body and get in touch with varieties of knowledge like moral education and sex education.
It’s not too late to nurture our habits no matter the age, but the habits we nurture should be towards the good side rather than the bad one. Good habits vary. Making your posture correct after doing the action by persisting for a week or month can be said to be nurturing a good habit. Even sleeping and waking up in time can be cultivated and become a good habit in time.
We do not need to rush to nurture good habits simultaneously. We can set a goal for cultivating one good habit a month or couple of months or even a year. One good habit a year sounds good. You can develop 10 good habits in ten years and that is a lot. Slowly giving up your bad habits can also be done. Just do it step by step. And within the course of time if we are dedicated to change good habits will ultimately overcome our bad habits, but one needs to have that determination. We will face the real world, a lot more experiences which helps us in nurturing good habits.For example, if you are smoking one pack a day, then reduce it to one pack every two days. Keep increasing the abstinence days while decreasing the amount of cigars you smoke. In the case you cannot stop it, your only choice is to go to rehabilitation. The fear or going to rehabilitation and losing respect within clans force one to think and change habits as well. This is the outcome of experiences, awareness that we get in the course of time.
You can give up your bad habits as easily as you give up your good habits, it’s just that you are too engrossed or addicted to that habit that you cannot give it up. Sometimes, we can just let go.
