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Have you ever been in the middle of doing something, and it reminded you of someone who correlated with that very thing you were doing? Well, a few weeks ago I woke up one morning, and before I got ready to do anything, I cracked my joints, specifically my knuckles, which is a habit of mine. I have a feeling some of you may think that it’s a bad habit or may be disgusted by it, but I’ve found it satisfying since middle school, and I won’t stop cracking my knuckles until I’m buried and disjointed. Anyway, moments before I went to the bathroom I thought of my sixth-grade academic learning disability counselor. As mentioned, this habit began in middle school, and my academic counselor was the first person to comment on my habit. I recall her amusement, but that quickly changed when she warned me that I’d risk getting arthritis if I didn’t stop cracking my knuckles. In case you don’t know, that is a myth and it has been disproven. Furthermore, we’re susceptible to believing things adults tell us in our childhood because of our blissful ignorance. At first, I believed her, but I ignored her concerns after our meeting. Admittedly, I didn’t know anything about arthritis in the sixth grade, but I remember her description of the bone disease sounded scary and excruciating. However, that didn’t convince me to stop my habit. Habits, we all have them, but whether they’re classified as good, bad, or neutral, habits are often deeply ingrained in our daily lives, and we usually don’t take the time to stop, recognize, and acknowledge how they affect societal norms, thus prompting the question: How can we determine what habits constitute “good”, bad, or neutral? In other words, how can we truly gauge certain habits as “bad,” and how do these judgments reflect deeper societal perceptions and understandings of acceptable and potentially detrimental habits?
I’d consider my knuckle-cracking habit a neutral habit because I don’t see anything wrong with it, and that’s probably because I’ve normalized it to a point where I’d find it an aberration if I stopped doing it. However, some perceive it as off-putting, thus making it a “bad” habit. Moreover, this is where social norms come into play and how certain habits are deemed inappropriate in certain social settings. It wasn’t until last week that I began seriously acknowledging and “giving life” to my habit and how often I engage in the habit and its origins. Additionally, I researched testimonials if anyone else has the same habit and can resonate with any scrutiny experienced with this innocuous habit. What I mean by “giving life” to my habit is that ever since middle school I never stopped to think, “Should I stop this habit? Or how should I prevent myself from feeling tempted to crack my knuckles? Meanwhile, my mind began wandering even further and ended up thinking that there might be people out there who either barely crack their knuckles or never have in their life, which I find strange because, as I said before, I’ve normalized the habit. Speaking of unusual things, I’m sure some of us have friends who demonstrate peculiar habits that deviate from what we consider normal, but in time, we accept their quirky ways because of the bond we’ve built with them. For example, whenever I buy ice cream (It rarely happens nowadays), I put it in the microwave for fifteen to eighteen seconds to soften it. When I first told my friend about it years ago, he gave me an incredulous look because it didn’t make sense to him, and I didn’t blame him for his reaction because it conflicted with what he considered “normal” behavior. Conversely, I find it strange that he eats cereal without milk. In any case, some of us have internalized our unusual habits into normalcy, and it would be unnecessary to change a benign habit if it isn’t detrimental to our health and safety.
In closing, awareness is imperative when discerning how we classify our habits and how much significance we give them. Most importantly, when we recognize our habits, we can acknowledge and accept them as long as they don’t lead to destructive outcomes. Regarding classifying habits, there is a general agreement that positive habits are advantageous and promote personal development. On the other hand, objectively speaking, bad habits, regardless of what they are, can make us vulnerable and self-destructive, and they can ruin us if we refuse to make changes for the better. From my perspective, “neutral” habits are subjective regarding their appropriateness within social norms, and how they are perceived will vary from person to person. Therefore, this perception illustrates how our subjective experiences shape our understanding of what defines acceptable behavior within social dynamics. That being said, we have to be considerate when noticing someone else’s unconventional habits and not elicit a sense of indignation over something frivolous because that could hurt established connections. Ultimately, we can relinquish our habits, whether good, bad, or neutral, accept our behaviors and not conform to what others deem normal, or capitulate and change our circumstances to be approved by the “normal” crowd.
Questions:
Q: Do you think our habits have a way of defining us?
Q: Can you look past the bad habits of someone with whom you’ve developed a relationship and still keep things amicable?
Real Free - Flowing Words 