Unlearn the Habit

In India, visitors are served a cup of tea without asking them whether they want it. But I did not mind it as I loved tea. In fact, it was a habit picked up as a child whilst going with my father for radio recordings. We would be served tea at regular intervals. By the time I was in college, I would drink at least a dozen large cups of tea, every day.

But, habits do hurt! A splitting headache would seize me if I missed my regular dose of tea. My predicament was worst while on a trek. I would start off cheerfully but by afternoon the ache in my head would get so bad that I would be in a bad mood. There were two options before me: quit trekking or break the tea habit. I chose the latter.

It was traumatic: my nerves were on tenterhooks, my mood was edgy all day long and withdrawal symptoms would turn me into a jittery mess! However, I held my resolve to unlearn the habit, first in the mind and later in a committed set of actions to reclaim control on my body.

It is pertinent to note that habit has to be divorced first in the mind, before the body can be freed. Now years later, I enjoy tea with or without sugar, with or without milk, or coffee in all its variants or juices of all types or plain water, too. We must try out choices. If we embrace the wide spectrum of plurality, habits have no space to form.

So whether it is food, drink, music or technology or anything, choose not to be a victim of habit by keeping an open attitude toward every new thing that comes before you. We need to be better at unlearning the habit and reclaim control on our own lives. We will develop a fuller personality that can adapt to every emerging change and challenge… because we will be habit free!

No habit can control us without our permission…

Let’s BE BETTER at unlearning dire habituation!

- Pravin K. Sabnis