Monday, May 07, 2007

Habits and Rituals

I have noticed about myself (and also others) that I am such a creature of habit. In school, when we didn't have assigned seats, I always went to the same one (as did pretty much everyone else). At our meetings at work, we all sit in the same places every week. I have an order to my morning and my evenings for the most part. I also do things in the shower in a certain and same order every morning. And if I change that order, it's likely I'll forget if I've done something (like wash my hair) or not. I even have a number of times I hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. I could set it for later and not have to "snooze" as much, but it's just what I'm used to. When I watch TV, I punch in one channel that I always start surfing on and then I go up from there - every time. That is, when I actually have the remote. When I get to work and sit down at my computer in the morning, I open the three programs I use all day in the same order. There are probably so many more things that I don't even realize that I do out of habit. I wonder why we have a tendency to operate like this?

4 comments:

Lindsay said...

We are creatures of habit. My doctor told me it is amazing how our bodies crave routine. It begins at birth.

Heather said...

I do the same thing...I once put soap in my hair because I usually use the shampoo first...Amazing how habitual we are!! When I was in PA school, we ALWAYS sat in the same seat, even though, nothing was assigned.

LoriLoo310 said...

I also have to do things in a certain order, especially opening my programs in order. Things have to be done a certain way or I mess up and have to do stuff over again!

Brooke said...

Sometimes, at work, I accidently close my email. When I reopen it, the tab is now at the right instead of the left. It drives me nuts! I end up closing everything and reopening them to get the programs in the correct order.