Bad Habits...So hard to break!

Tonight, I thought as I twirled my hair, tickled my hair in my ear and bit the skin on the inside of my jaw...I would tackle a subject which often gets little attention, bad habits. Now, let is all be honest with ourselves, we all have them.  Some are a little more dangerous to our health, some are harmless...but they are all things we wish we didn't do, but can't seem to help ourselves.  I notice as my stress level goes up, my habits increase as well.  Funny thing is, my husband and I have the same habit of shoving the end of our hair under our finger nails.  It gives that sensory input I suppose we need to help soothe our nerves.  If I am super stressed, it might be said I am doing a double twirl, or the double tickle with my hair in my ears.  I know, it's strange...but don't judge.  You know you have those habits too which you can't seem to break.  I have a family member, whom I will leave nameless, that pulls their eyebrow hairs out one at a time until there are virtually any left.  And of course, you have the common ones like biting fingernails, picking your nose, cracking or popping your knuckles and chewing on a pen or pencil.  But why is it so stinking hard to stop this often crazy and bizarre behavior?

If you think about it, I bet you are like me and have had the same habits basically all of your life.  My Mom would tell you when I was a baby, still in my crib, I would pluck the fur off of my stuffed animals and tickle with them.  I guess back then, when I didn't have any hair, I had to sacrifice the fluff off of my stuffed animals...I know pretty funny.  It's okay, you can laugh at me.  I don't care, partly because I am confident in who I am, mostly because the Lord is the One I most worry about impressing, and I know I'm not alone :) But what is the reason we struggle to break them?

Often it is simply a decision to just not give it up at all. Or if you are like me, I just choose to keep the ones which are more harmless than the others.  My husband gives me trouble for biting my jaw, and yes it probably causes me extra unwanted wrinkles on my face...my Mom would tell me it was going to cause cancer, yet the only way I can stop it is if I have a mouth guard in place to prohibit me from biting.  I do it without even realizing it, almost like a compulsive disorder.  I don't really want to do it, it just happens like when I blink my eyes or swallow.  It is hard to stop something you don't even realize you are doing until it is too late.  Then the hair twirling, and tickling are often the habits I can use instead of biting my jaw to soothe myself from stress.  At least they don't cause wrinkles or "cancer" as my Mom would threaten when biting my jaw.  Neither here nor there, habits are hard to break, like it or not.  They are mechanisms which we have acquired to help us cope with the stresses of life.  So the next time you see me twirling my hair, tickling or shoving my hair under my nails...Smile and just move on :) 'Cause chances are, I will be playing with my hair until either I am dead or have no hair which ever comes first!!!

Oh, and one more thing, feel free to tell the world your bad habits in the comments section if you'd like :)