Old habits don’t die easy.
It all starts in the brain. A chemical pathway is laid down when when we think or do something. Each succeeding repetition of this act or thought puts down new neurotransmitters. Over time, these chemicals create a pathway, a rut if you will. The action becomes easily done without effort. It becomes a habit.
A habit can be an action, a feeling, or a thought. Think of a person turning a wheel over a well-worn rut. With each turn of the wheel, back and forth, that wheel carves itself deeper into the mud.
It will take more than a simple tugging to get that wheel out of that trench. In order to be broken, it requires altering the pathway once again. This can require intense effort.
Each time you resist the compulsion, you are filling in that trench little by little. Over time, as you continue to “not do” this habit, the ground becomes level. Finally you can move your wheel out of the space, without creating a gaping hole where the wheel can all too easily slip back in.
You must repeat your new conscious thought or action again and again. Too often, a person begins to change a habit, but then goes back to the same old unwanted feeling or action. That rut begins to re-form. To change the habit now feels like starting over.
This is why old habits are so hard to break. But you can do it! It will take time. Each time you resist that old habit, you are making progress.
