Bad habits

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Speaking of bad habits, I've had one since as long as I can remember. I bite my nails. 

I bite them for no obvious reasons - when I'm bored, happy, anxious, stressed, nervous, thinking...
I tell myself that because I'm somewhat OCD about washing my hands, it shouldn't matter as much. So, I just do it, because I CAN'T seem to stop. 

Though, over the years - I have tried many things to make it stop. I've gone for manicures, hoping that looking at pretty nail-paint would do the trick. I've been told that it is ridiculous to watch a grown up person bite their nails. And, it is true. I do look very stupid doing it. I've tried wearing gloves. I've tried solid resolve. And, none of that worked.

Till, until ... I saw my little munchkins copy my monkey act. It started with my son, who started biting his nails after watching me. After a whole lot of begging, pleading, threatening and what not, my little boy with stellar discipline stopped doing it and I was so relieved. I went about my nail biting business only to find that, now, my daughter was doing it too. 

I could see early on, that her attitude was similar to mine.
As in, I can't stop.
It doesn't matter if I do it when no one is watching.
It doesn't matter because I'm not hurting anyone else in doing this.
And, i'm stubborn. I do what I WANT.

She started falling sick very often. And, some of it was because of her nail biting habit. As a mommy, the guilt started getting to me. So, I got myself some really bitter tasting nail-paint to stop this "habit". To say that it tastes like crap, is an understatement. It is horribly, disgusting!

After my big resolve to start off my year with "passion", this year so far has actually been the opposite of that. You see, it's a very different thing to "intend" or "think" about doing something VS actually doing something or taking "action". 

“Take action! An inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intention. Direction, not intention determines destination.”― Steve Maraboli


I think good intent, in itself, is a positive thing. But, if it leads to no action, it is sort of meaningless. 

When intent is followed by direction, God gives us the grace to fight against whatever it is that we deal with. This doesn't mean that it will be easy or one won't experience failure, but at a minimum, it is built on fighting for what is important.

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