Breaking the habit

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Slacker.

Slacker who?

Me…

Yes, I know all the excitement you are all feeling because your favourite slacker blogger is back. Back to finish the task that I started well over a year ago. Literally. I think my last post was in, like, January of 2019. Looking at this pandemic that is going on, maybe I can make some people laugh, smile, feel loved, anything other than anxious, scared, angry, etc. So let’s get this party started, and see how she goes.

I am on day four of my “30 Days of Me” challenge, and today I am going to write about a habit I wish I didn’t have.

I think we as humans, all have habits we wish we didn’t have, it’s just life. I know I have many habits. For instance, I sucked my thumb until I was 13 years old. The only reason I stopped was because I had to get braces, and a pallet expander to stop the crowding of my teeth. Oddly enough my top pallet was small, and there wasn’t enough room for all of my teeth, so it was an expander, or jaw surgery, and that was NOT happening.

But going deeper into this, how do you know what a habit is compared to a vice, or a superstition? Some people who have certain habits call them vices. So if I smoked, and I called it a vice, wouldn’t that be the same thing as a habit? And what about a superstition? I have A LOT of those, my friends and family will get on board with that. It’s borderline not normal at times. But looking at superstitions, they could also be habits because we do them every time we are in a certain situation or environment. If I talked about superstitions, we would be here a long time.

Let’s cut to the chase here. I will talk about something that I think is a habit of mine, some people may argue that it’s actually not a habit, so we will see. I am always open for discussion and POLITE debate. If you want to start a fight, this isn’t the place. But I digress. My habit is my restless legs, and almost constant shaking, tapping, and moving of my feet and legs.

I know that it drives people wild, and makes some people uncomfortable and anxious, but, I mean, how do you think I feel? Realistically, I have always had a hard time sitting still for long periods of time. Travel is painful for me. I don’t like being cooped up in a car, or on a plane, so I guess maybe this is how I coped with some of that? Some people ask me if I do it because I am anxious, or on edge, or scared, and to be honest, that is sometimes the case. I do notice it sometimes when I am getting ready to speak publicly, or go for a job interview, or if my hockey team is winning, losing, or going into overtime (the losing has been happening a lot this passed season, just FYI). It does happen throughout the day when I am at my desk and have been there for a while, it happens at night when I am at home. I know that my mom will sometimes come up to me and put her hand on my knee and tell me to cut it out. I think it makes her nervous.

In all honesty, for the most part, I don’t even know I am doing it, it just happens. Like right now, it’s just shaking away. Party time for my right foot/ leg. BUT… there is a positive to this, I think. Number one, my leg muscles are on point. From all the movement, and tensing up, I could probably squat a lot more than most people. Positive attribute number two, is that “fidgeting”, as I will call it, apparently burns more calories than just sitting stable for so long. Granted, my watch tells me to get my butt up and move every hour (I don’t always listen to it), maybe this fidgeting thing works a little in my corner. Right now, I have just had a thought which I probably should have put together sooner than this. If I were to get up and actually walk around for 5-10 minutes every hour, maybe my leg and foot shakes would be less? I think I can almost assure myself that it might help it considerably, because I would be up and moving and not stationary, and it would help a few other things as well, I assume. Look at me go, solving my own problems. I’m sure I’m late to the party, and that is all common knowledge, but let me bask in a little bit of glory for now.

This wasn’t my favourite thing to write about, it was kind of boring, I wanted to come in like a lion, but it was more like a wet blanket. Yay, my legs and feet fidget… NOT. Oh well, there is always next time. We can all use the distraction, even if this one was like watching paint dry. I apologize, and will do better next time.

As always, I will post a song that I am vibing right now, and today, that happens to be “Freedom (Feat. Zak Abel)” by Kygo. You can check it out HERE let me know what you think in the comments. Feel free to follow, like, subscribe, or just come back next time. I am thinking about everyone during these hard and uncertain times, and I hope you all stay safe, wash your hands, trust in the process, look out for yourself and others, and be kind to yourself; you matter.

Cheers,

K