It Will Stick Like That

I don’t know if it’s in the official Mom Handbook but it has become a part of our culture — “if you keep making that face it will stick like that”. As with many things moms say, we roll our eyes and dismiss it. As with many things moms say, it’s true.

I’ve had a stressful life. The reasons are many but let’s just agree that I have. I was appalled at how I looked when I saw my reflection in a store window one time and I remarked upon that to a friend. He said, “When you’re 20, you can get away with things, but at 40 you look like what you’ve been doing.” The things you do will become part of you.

We are all creatures of habit. Don’t say you only do something a little. Do something every day and it will become ingrained. Dripping water erodes stone. If you keep hunching over at the computer, getting in arguments, using sloppy thinking, eating crappy food, watching garbage TV, or a hundred other things you know aren’t good for you, they will become part of you. You will cease to even regard them as habitual and believe that is who you are. And it will be.

So stop it. Catch yourself and just stop it. You have Done That, whatever That is for you, for thousands of hours in your life. Yes, you have — do the math. It has done damage — to your body, brain and soul. It has done more than you even see yourself. Don’t wait on this, either — when you realize how much harm you have done it may be too late. Take it from someone who is learning that the hard way — it will stick like that