The New You

School starts this week, so that means back to work for me. I've been getting my lesson plans ready, re-familiarizing myself with the material, and even getting my car ready for the daily drive to work. I'm doing things in a similar way as when I was younger, only this time I'm the teacher instead of the student. Despite this distinction, however, I still find myself falling into some of the same thought-patterns that I had as a student in high school, and even in college to some extent.


Like a "New Year's Resolution" that takes place in August, I used to find myself making resolutions to be better in the coming school year. Being a generally unorgainzed person, it seemed that my resolution at the beginning of most school years was to keep my things more organized than the year before; neatness is close to Godliness after all, or at least so I've heard. For a few weeks I would stick to this resolution; my papers would stay in order, my bookbag would be neat and organized, and I would even go out of my way to complete my homework as soon as I got home. I find myself making these same sorts of resolutions as this school year starts, as well. I want to be more organized, stay ahead of the game, do everything I can that will generally make life easier. There seems to be a multitude of things that I could do, but never get around to, that would make everything so much easier both inside and out of work.

Despite these resolutions, however, I always find myself falling back into the old routines. My things would stay neat and organized for a little while, but ultimately they would end up messy and strewn about. I would start doing homework as soon as possible, but before too long I would be finishing book reports at midnight the night before they were due. It seems that I can't break free from old habits.

This idea though, that we can't break free of old habits, got me thinking. Perhaps it's the bad habits that make us who we are more than the good ones. It feels like I'm not being myself when I'm not messy and procrastinating. Even though it would undoubtedly make life much easier, it just seems so unnatural to go about things differently than I normally do. It feels like I would lose some of what makes me who I am if I gave up these things. So maybe the next time you feel like changing some of your "bad" habits, you should consider what they add to your character, more than just what things are made difficult by these characteristics themselves.