This month, we’re talking about the “pull of habit”—when our habits are so set in stone that we sacrifice other parts of our life in order to keep that habit safe. When we settle into our comfort zone like this, our lives become unbalanced, and we are not putting 100% into all parts of our life. The following is a good example of this kind of habit.
Tara is a working mother of two. She works for a local insurance office while her husband has an hour commute to his office. Tara spends every night after work doing house chores, cooking dinner, doing the dishes, and getting her kids’ lunches ready for the next day. Since her husband is gone much longer from the house, he only helps the kids with their homework and has a few small chores. She loves her family and doesn’t see all the after-work duties as a burden—she likes supporting her family in this way. However, when she stops to look at her habits, she realizes that spending all this time every night in doing these services for her home and family, she is actually missing out on spending quality time with her husband and kids. Tara decided to come up with a new plan, a new habit, that would allow her to spend more time with her family. This included letting her husband take on some more chores and getting the kids to help with the dishes, so she could be finished earlier.
Where in your life is habit getting in the way of leading a balanced life? If you look closely, you will probably notice that there are things you do every day that do not necessarily lead to a balanced life. Take some time to notice your habits. Are they unbalancing your life, or allowing you to live a well-balanced life?