How often do you notice when you stop doing something? Sure sometimes it may be very apparent and even a conscious effort to discontinue something, but in a lot of cases it's not so overly abrupt. In fact sometimes we don't even know that we've stopped something until we force ourselves to think about it. Life may be a bunch of stops and starts, some of which are harder to do than others.
It's been said that it can take anywhere from three weeks to two months to firmly develop a habit. Of course those habits of ours that we dislike feel like they're easier to pick up in a shorter amount of time. The ones we're focused on though may feel like an uphill battle. Think about all the diets or workout plans that never stuck. In the beginning we're determined to make the change. We're conscious of our need to do something and make the effort to implement it. For many of us that focus starts to drift before too long. Without constant diligence we don't even realize we've stopped trying to form a new habit and have gone back to the old behavior.
Starting may be the uphill battle in some cases. Stopping can sometimes be more of a downhill thing. I've talked about all the various people in our lives and how only a very small fraction of them are still in our lives today. We may remember we met someone because it was the start of something. How often do we remember when we stopped knowing someone? There are situations which physically pull people away from each other, but with life there are times when there doesn't need to be any more of a barrier than a forgotten phone call. We may notice that we missed a phone call or a gathering and feel bad the first time. The more times we let it happen though, the easier it becomes to keep letting it happen. The next thing we know it's been six months since you've spoken and you find yourself realizing that overall your life has hardly been affected.
It makes me wonder if we all have a sort of default behavior built into us? If left to our own devices would we simply go back to a baseline set of habits that are essentially hardwired into our minds and bodies? If we are taken from our natural environment for an extended period of time we are forced to stop doing certain things because they're simply not an option. We as a species can be very adaptable. What happens though when we return back to our natural environment? Do we go back to what we used to do? One might think we are bound by that old saying "Out of sight. Out of mind" How much of the things we do would we simply stop doing if we didn't somehow feel they were required or didn't know life could go on without them? Does that mean would could stop anything at anytime?
