02
Habits and transition points

2026-02-02 · 387 words

Whenever you’re at a transition point in your life, I wonder why I’m writing this! moving to a new city, starting a new semester, changing jobs, making a life decision—you need to pay close attention to habits: both the ones you desire to keep and the ones you wish to lose.

Some habits are reinforced by your environment; others are encouraged by those around you. I like to think that habits don’t live inside you, but rather are prompted by signals subconciously perceived throughout the day: when you wake up, after you eat; when you leave, when you arrive; when you see someone, or remember them; when you see a note, remember an event, or check your schedule. An example: a habit I have is that if I think of doing something nice or needed, like reaching out to an old friend, I have to do it the moment I think of it. These little reminders get paired with little rituals, and the pairing of space, time, and action moves us smoothly through the day.

I’d say that it’s easier to lose good habits than it is to pick them up. With the exception of habits that are naturally addictive… but I’d argue that an addictive habit is a bad habit. Good habits require effort. Learning a habit requires work; making a concious effort to repeat an action consistently until it becomes natural. Losing habits requires… doing nothing. Like a bustling city, the cost of any habit is constant maintenence.

After a transition point, when with new people or when in a new place, the signals you’ve been relying on to carry out a habit are missing. You need to make the concious choice to keep up the habit.

In coming back to school and starting a new semester, there are a few things that I would like to start up again. Like my laundry. I also hope to maintain the habit of writing daily, but that’s quite a bit harder. So if I miss a day, let me know :)

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Oh! today I also wrote a new homepage for this website. The last one hadn’t been updated since high school. You can take a look at it here.