Habits

"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half."~Feodor Dostoevski

As I look around my bedroom "suite" (we moved our TV and loveseat in...I'll share another time), I see clothes, cords, and toys strewn about. I think to myself, "Ugh! I just had this room completely clean YESTERDAY! Why won't it stay clean??" And of course, even more quickly than the previous thought popped into my head, sprang the answer: Me. My husband. OUR HABITS.

We live like college students. Our endtables are a glorious buffet of snacks and drinks with a few Xbox controllers and tubes of butt paste thrown in (that's for the little one! Diaper rash, you know).

Then at the end of the day, we simply go to bed. No picking up. No putting up. And obviously no washing dishes. Our day's clothes are tossed carelessly onto the floor. Where else would we put them? We couldn't possibly put them in the clothes hampers (yes, I have multiple baskets) because they are overflowing with clean clothes from the last time Snow White visited (Puh! She's apparently not any good at folding, hanging, and putting away clothes. I guess you get what you pay for). Our glasses with their last drops of Sangria and my bowl still half full (see? I can be an optimist) of my dinner from last night (I was trying to be good and stop eating once I got full) cluttered the tables to the left and right of our loveseat. Not very lovely, huh? Well, there's no way they could go in the sink! I'm afraid if I try to add one more dish, it'll be "Jenga!" Game over.

And that, teamed up with my perpetual cycle of procrastination and perfectionism, is how my house seems to be is in a constant state of unholy mess.

"Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow."-Yiddish proverb

Thank you, um, Yiddish people, for reminding me that now is the time to set good habits.

But why is it so stinking hard?! Believe me, I have tried for 3 1/2 years to attain a new atmosphere in my home, a state of constant perfection full of cleanliness and order.

"Habits are first cobwebs, then cables."~Spanish proverb

Ahh, thank you, dear Spaniards, for your enlightenment.

So does anyone have any cable-cutters??

"Habit is habit, and is not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."~Mark Twain

Fine, Mr. Clemens, I'll take baby steps, but just so you know, I won't be happy about it! I want a microwave solution! A ~*MAGIC*~ fix!

But alas, there is none. There is only change. Deep and utter heart change. Then thought change. Then deed change. Then perseverance. Then more perseverance. And finally, a new habit is born.

*raises her glass* Here's to becoming the woman I want to be in the second half of my life by being the woman I want to be in the first half of my life! *clinks her glass with yours* Slainte!

{Special thanks to The Quote Garden for their overflowing words of wisdom from sages past}