Journey to Kona Day 75: Habits

My dad once told me that if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit.  I think that there's a lot of truth in that. Hence, my daily writing, and my daily run at the beginning of the year.  Unfortunately, my daily run was ended by a rib injury, but not before the idea of the daily run got locked into my brain.  That's the idea of the habit.  I want to write every day now.

There's another side to habits.  I always tell people that I'm a "creature of habit."  I can eat the same thing for breakfast day in and day out.  I like things just the way they are.  I really don't like change or surprises. Who does?  There's something to be said for the brain not having to work extra if it's used to not only it's surroundings, but what is going on in them.  That's really where the daily run idea came about.  I wanted  the idea of getting up and running every day to seem habitual.  This is very similar to what I did with my twenty weeks of running twenty miles a few years ago.  Running twenty miles became so habitually ingrained that even today I believe that I can do it at any time.  In fact, I'm looking forward to doing it!  I was probably going to try a few weeks ago when I fell and sprained my ribs.

I'm sitting and writing this morning while sitting in my new front yard.  While I enjoyed my old house and it's surroundings, my new front yard has a great view of the mountains right behind us, with a corresponding view of the valley in the other direction.  It's also peaceful, which is something I crave, while often not knowing what to do with.  That's because I'm always trying to find something to do, something to occupy my time with.  Habit.  I guess that's become habitual.  On the other hand, I can with the small bird that's prancing across my yard instead.  Or the crows that are fighting across the street. Or smell the air and the trees and just feel the peacefulness of my surroundings.  Those are good habits too.

There's always a time to learn new habits.  It just takes 21 days.