We develop habits over time - good and bad. Mostly bad, I'm afraid!
Habits, not hobbits!
The pandemic changed a lot of people's behaviors for better and for worse - mostly worse. But the pandemic is "over" I guess, even as it spikes again. But the behaviors we learned during the pandemic seem to continue on.
I am not talking about masks and social distancing. A few people are still wearing masks and it seems that the MAGA-rats are leaving them alone, finally. It is no business of anyone's why someone is wearing a mask - they may have a compromised immune system, for example.
Afraid to leave their homes or shop in a supermarket, many folks acquired the habit of having restaurant food delivered or having their groceries picked out for them and then loaded into the back of their car. Years later, pandemic "over" (or is it?) and these habits stuck.
I see postings online galore from people whining about their Door-Dash delivery gone wrong. Why not get up off your fat ass and go pick it up? Better yet, why not shop for food and prepare your own meals. No, it is not "too hard." No, you are not "too tired" or "too busy." No, there are not "mountains of dishes" to wash as a result. Those are just excuses of lazy people.
Lazy habits are easy to acquire and hard to get rid of. As your income increases over time, it is easy - as falling off a log - to increase your personal overhead. You buy a more expensive, fancier car, a bigger house, spend more on clothing, food, and services (and subscriptions). Then a recession comes. You get laid off. Or some other life event forces you to downsize. Getting rid of that hobby car or cutting those subscription fees is painful. And besides, they aren't costing you that much, right?
Well, actually they are. But we are in the habit of having these things and habits are hard to break. Once you think it is "normal" to send out for food or eat at restaurants four nights a week (or more!), it seems like privation to go back to a more normal way of living - the way humans have lived for millennia - by preparing your own foods at home (for 1/4 the cost!). When the pizza parlor is on speed-dial, you have a problem.
There are other habits from the pandemic that seem hard to shake. Socializing went down to nothing during the pandemic, and today, well, it seems that many folks have yet to get back into the habit of going out, having parties, and seeing other people. In particular, we noticed a lot of older friends have sort of gone into permanent hibernation. As I noted before, this seems to be normal for old people - and old cats, too! But with the pandemic, it seems they suddenly disappeared and then never came back.
You get out of the habit of socializing and it is hard to get back in. Social awkwardness and social anxiety sets in. When you stop socializing for nearly two years, well, it shows.
Breaking habits, is, of course, hard to do, hence why we call them "habits." We get used to spending money a certain way, interacting with others, or a job, or commuting, or drugs, or whatever - and we do these things without thinking. They become like breathing - another habit that is literally lifelong.
But sometimes, you have to challenge your habits. It pays to work outside your comfort zone sometimes, and realize that what you consider "normal" may be outdated or even destructive.
No doubt you've heard this before, at a meeting at work, when someone wants to shout down a new idea: "But that's the way we've always done it before!"
Habits. They can literally kill you, too!
