Habits die hard....do they?

HABITS DIE HARD. It is generally true (and that is why it is an 'axiom'). But like every rule (or axiom) this too does have exceptions, right? For your ready reference, I give below some of the common habits that we have.
biting fingernails/pen (they are supposed to be in deep thought...!)
smoking (habit inculcated during school/college days)
obsessive checking of phone (everybody does now)
chewing gum (cannot imagine some established players without chewing)
timely eating (good habit)
watching movies (depends on the movies)
day-dreaming (yes, most of us do)
procrastinating (except a few, almost all others do)
gossiping (no exception, I think)
argumentative (Indians are supposed to be argumentative - as per economist Amartya Sen)
fiddling with keys/paperweight (really irritating habit) (I too have this habit!)
regular workout (good for us, but neglected by many)
These are just a few of the common habits. No one can escape from having some of these habits (and some other habits not listed here). Over a period of time, we accumulate the habits and they become integral part of our daily lives.

Some habits (like, 'timely eating', 'regular work-out', 'early to bed-early to rise', 'table manners') are actually good to have. If we can continue to have these habits throughout our lives, it will be great. But 'en-route', we drop some of these habits due to some reason or the other. I used to have my breakfast around 7.30 A.M., when I was working. I used to admonish my colleagues who took their breakfast around 10.00 A.M. But now (in my retirement phase), my breakfast time has shifted to 10.30 A.M. I despise this change, but I am unable to go back to my earlier routine.

Watching movies was one of my favorite hobbies throughout most part of my life. During my college days, I was the only one going to movies regularly (never missed my favorite director's movies, when they got released), when all my friends used to study almost 24 hours of the day (during the study holidays, just before the exams). On some holidays I used to see three different movies at a stretch (afternoon, evening, night shows). I had such an avowed interest for movies. But of late, I don't see any movie at all. Total loss of interest (may be due to advancing age!).

Reading novels was another obsession I had during my working days. Now that too has waned from my list of habits. Smart phone use has taken over the available time. The entire day is not enough! I am trying to reduce the time spent over the phone. Thank God that I still continue to do my morning work-out.

So, it is evident that some of the habits do die and some new habits catch up. We should try to take in the good habits as much as possible and drop off the bad ones.