BAD HABITS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21981, 16 June 1933, Page 15

BAD HABITS

I don’t mean the habit of biting your nails, or being unpunctual, or leaving the electric light on. I mean the habit you persist in just because it is a habit. No less a person than the chancellor of Aberdeen University announced recently:— “ A man is taking a great risk who gets up at the same hour, catches the same train, and knocks out his pipe and jumps into bed with the regularity of clockwork. Gloom will soon enter his home.” Unfortunately, most of us are obliged to get into the habit of crawling out of bed at the ping of the alarm, and beating it to catch the eight-fifteen. Necessity compels us to strap-hang home at the same hour every evening. But it is just because we are forced to contract these habits that we should be all the more careful not to become habitbound over the things we can alter. For instance, that habit of always lunching at “ The Toasting Fork ” because we “ always have.” Why not try the Rosebud Cafe, or that new Italian place that’s just been opened ? Or that crusted old habit of going to the “flicks” i-egularly every Saturday afternoon, and always wearing powder blue, because someone once said it was “your colour?” Break away. Go hiking one Saturday, or visit a picture gallery or a museum. Try wearing bottle-green, or parma violet (very fashionable just now), for a change. . If you’ve always parted your hair on the left, part it on the right, or try the effect of a middle parting. Change the shade of your face powder. Use lavender water instead of violet scent, and see if it doesn’t give you a new personality. , ... Even the smallest alteration in your habits prevents you from getting into a groove. . Walking to the office in the morning, or coming home by bus instead of train. Grapefruit marmalade for breakfast instead of the more ordinary variety. Changing your daily paper. Trying a different brand of tea. Rearranging the furniture in your room. Sleeping with your bed north to south, for instance,

which, incidentally, is supposed to be a sovereign remedy for insomnia. These are all things that /will bring a freshness into your outlook. Listen to what a famous actress says:—

“ I hate habits, and it’s so easy to form them. When I find myself drifting into set and settled food habits, I deliberately go on an orange juice diet for a few days, merely to pull myself out of the rut. it’s, the same with reading. Suddenly I .find myself devoting my time to magazines or to current novels. So I’ll put them away and go on a biography, or history spree, just for change and newness.” It’s worth considering, don’t you think? Even such sacred institutions as the Sunday, joint might be occasionally abandoned “ for a change,” while the effort required to read a good biography, or a travel book, will be amply repaid by the fresh viewpoint you get. Don’t excuse your laziness or lack of enterprise with a feeble “ I suppose I’ve got into the habit ” New habits have a way of forming new contacts. You will meet new people; perhaps—who knows?—romance. Get into the habit of getting out of your habits occasionally, if you want to get the most out of life. Silvia Thorn-Drury, in an exchange.