"The Devil Made Me… I’m Calling it…"

The Devil Made Me… I’m Calling it…

   

    Well you know the rest. Recently, I’ve come to the conclusion ever more so, as to why we do what we do when we do it.  It’s some form of the devil?  But not really.  That’s just a catch phrase. The bottom line is your HABITS. No, not the ones the nuns wear. The other ones. I’m not denying that there isn’t some evil possession thing out there. Oh Contrare!  I refuse to argue that. What I’m pointing out is, what we do from the beginning of our own individual existence, is most times what we continue to do. Perhaps to be as well.

    

   My husband, medical doctors, our children and a few friends hear me reiterate the query, ‘Why when we know better do we not...?’ So, my next question is, ‘Why is it that people, mainly adults, who do the same things over and over again. Receiving adverse effects that they cannot benefit  from, continue on their path of destruction. What’s with that?’ That has been my question. I figured it out this morning.  Yeah, a little late in life maybe.  The answer to the question of, ‘Why can’t people change?’ The answer is, ‘They are unwilling to change their HABITS.’ And what most of us don’t want to be called is… ARROGANT.  Sometimes, that is just what we are being when we refuse to change our HABITS, when they aren’t the healthier path to be on. Changing is an ongoing process of being human. We all have to do it. Pretty much we have to work on it every day.  It’s NOT a one-time thing.

    I’ll give you one of my own bad HABITS. Don’t laugh, because it is a form of a HABIT. I am a professional worrier. I have multiple degrees in it. I guarantee I deserve some kind of award. I don’t know exactly the award, like a crown. Or something like uhhhh. A pot of gold? Because I’m just that good. I could use some cah-ching too. However, a later subject.  Oh, and the worry thing-a-mahooey. Better yet, I hide it. Well, not really. What I do is I pray, ‘Dear God, You’ve heard this before.  What’s it now? Like um. Worry number Five million six hundred forty-eight thousand nine hundred sixty-seven point four. Times it’s been? Yeah, Yeah, I stopped me on that last one.  Really put the brakes on it in the process. So…

    Just to fill you, my audience in. I started this worry thing-a-mahooey since I can remember. Started at age three. I actually remember the first time it happened. Or the first time that I can recall it occurring as a realization.  It was July 1966, a beautiful sunny day. Hec! I was just a weenie little kid turning age four soon. Who would of thunk it?

    I began working on my bad HABIT, well years ago. I call it, SHOOTING IT DOWN.. Shooting it down, is when you catch yourself doing what you’re trying to stop doing.  Then you shoot the bad HABIT down. I cancel the thought in my verbiage if it’s present. I reverse what I’m saying, even if its just to myself.  Then I tell myself, ‘I probably can’t control…’ Then I recycle positive self-talk internally and externally. The only reason why the negative may linger is because it was a HABIT in the first place. Yet, the more we SHOOT IT DOWN, the more it abates. When our stress levels get higher, our worries can mount. Not that they are really there to be a worry.  But because something we’ve done all our lives may seem unshakeable. I compare that to OUR EATING HABITS. We make excuses for those too.

    Here are some examples:  Relative on the phone with me…

“If I lived with you Jody, I would be in shape…”

Me: We’ve already done that experiment. I let you be. You didn’t change.

“If my husband didn’t like this particular type of food…”

Me: I’ve been known to have available two separate meals for HIM! And I’ve been working since, well even before I was supposed to.

“Wait till you have to raise children…”

Me: Not only am I raising children. I had to care for my Mom’s last child at my ages thirteen thru high school, pay her mortgage at age seventeen and eighteen. And am now raising two daughters. I’m just as imperfect and human as you are.

“I can’t even take a shower with this child. You want me to make a salad…”

Me: Don’t take the shower for more than a minute.  You’ll save money. And have time to make the salad and eat it. But you have time to get your hair done. Put make up on. Time to smoke a joint with your friends, who are not business associates. As well having time to do something that may be illegal and cause you to crave foods that are inhibitive of perhaps being on a diet.

“I hate food shopping…”

Me: I love food shopping. Because I can pick out and be responsible for providing to my family health through nutrition. THAT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY. And I get to spend the money I earn and not feel guilty.

“It’s dark out…”

Me: Yes it is. I have always been afraid of the dark. But there are a lot of things to be afraid of. And wear a reflective vest. It’s not necessary to wear dark colors to hide your insecure feelings about you being an individual. Walk smartly.

“It’s cold out…”

Me: It ain’t Siberia.  Fresh air is good. Dress for the occasion. Take proper precautions based on your health issues, not someone else’s.

“It’s hot out…”

Me: It’s not the Mohave Desert in July! Dress for the occasion. Take proper precautions based on your health issues, not someone else’s.

“I have friends, but they don’t like to walk…”

Me: Stop comparing. Your life is not based on your friends. Friends come and go.  You’ll be here until you leave, and with that you personally need a quality of life as part of your existence here. Not part of someone else’s. 

“I love food…”

Me: Stop the Martyr-Drum! I love food more than you. I bet. Well maybe I love living more than existence. Probably.

“Well my headphones broke…”

Me: You shouldn’t be wearing them. It can be dangerous. You cannot hear the world around you.  Which, if you stop for those moments to listen to sounds of the natural environment, you’ll probably figure out what gives you peace.

As they smoke a cigarette, “I can’t run with this body…”

Me: But you can be a chimney. You’re making your own mess, by not addressing why it is that you smoke.  Perhaps, you need a psychologist, Babe.

“I don’t have time…”

Me: Make Time. There’s always time. Just like we can make excuses. We can make time. We have the power.

Could add more excuses and responses to them, but I’ll refrain. If you’ve read this far, you get the idea I’m presenting. Now that I’ve insulted even the people who THINK they are tough guys and gals. They’ll never admit it.  They’ll just trash the next person they can, without getting punched in the face…By the way that’s COWARDICE.---Jody-Lynn Reicher