Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Blog #1: Habit

 Before taking sociology, I never really gave much thought to habits we all have. It seems impossible to not form habits. When I think about my day from start to finish, one of the first things I do in my day is out of habit. Every day I go and sit with my friends at the same exact table in the same exact spot in the wood commons. Why don't we sit at a different table someday? Why do we always sit with the same people? After sitting there since freshmen year, it has become a habit for us to sit there. I think we do this for a few reasons but most importantly, we do it because we feel safe there. After sitting there for years, we feel completely comfortable being in the same spot. If we sat anywhere else, we would most likely feel uncomfortable and a little awkward. We aren't insecure or unhappy people, but sitting in the same spot gives us a feeling of security. Walking into school every day knowing that my friends will be waiting for me at our spot makes me feel safe. If we didn't have that spot, I would walk into school every day feeling a little lost and nervous that I wouldn't have somewhere to sit or that I wouldn't be able to find my friends. I think this is true for all our habits; we do them to feel safe and secure. Once we start a habit, we prefer to stick to it so we don't lose that feeling of security. I think the reason we prefer not to break our habits is because we are so accustomed to them that not doing them would just feel wrong. We can't help it; habits have become too big a part of our lives to stop doing them now. If there were no such things as habits, our lives would probably be a lot more interesting and we would probably all be better at adjusting to change. As my teachers blog says, 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks '. I don't think we have much  hope as far as breaking habits goes.