Old habits die hard Essay

When I heard that one of the quotes for today’s essay was â€Å"old habits die hard † some of Mick Jagger’s lyrics came to mind â€Å"I’m not an addict ,it’s just a habit†. It takes a long time to develop a bad habit and as much or longer to stay away from it . We start developing bad habits at an early age because of inexperience .We reinforce those habits day by day and step by step in our everyday life by repetition. Old habits die hard because us as people allow ourselves to get into bad habits sometimes socially and sometimes unintentionally. One of the bad habits that people in general have is nail biting . I see people biting their nails all the time .I would love to say that I am not one of those people but I would be lying .If I am waiting on line at a store for a long time ,I start to get frustrated and I bite my nails. Another reason I fall into the habit of biting my nails is nervousness. Once I was waiting for a job interview , I noticed that my nails where getting shorter and shorter without my intention. In general as people we are programmed from young age to do things .We do not realize that some of those things can be bad until they have happened repetitiously. I have worked on ways to stop biting my nails ,and it is working for now .I noticed that I can break this old habit by painting my nails with a base coat nail polish that taste very bad if I bite my nails . In this essay I would like to bring to the reader’s attention two bad habits that influence our health such smoking ,drinking. When someone smokes he/she is inhaling approximately 7000 chemicals inside their lungs , 250 of which are poisonous and 70 carcinogenic. These chemicals are not only damaging the lungs, but also traveling through the body and causing several diseases . Smoking increases the chance of COPD, Coronary heart disease, stroke and lung cancer (www.about.com).Alchol is very present in today’s society .Having class of wine once in a while is acceptable and healthy some might say ,but too many glasses can affect your judgment and direct you to bad decision making . Alcohol abuse can lead to alcoholism ,or alcohol addiction ,to a point which a person becomes physically and  psychologically dependent to it so much that people cannot function without it .Alcohol abuse can lead to disruptive behavior such as driving under the influence and domestic violence . Both smoking and drinking are addictive but also habits that could be broken . Gambling is also a habit that is very hard to overcome .It is a compulsion and the end result can be very devastating for the gambler and also for their family. Gambling can have a big impact on someone’s economical state . For example a gambler can lose all their saving in one night .They borrow money to play more hoping to win back what they lost. The person who is the gambler is not the only person that suffer from this situation ,their families are too. Often times the family has to deal with threading phone calls from creditors and bill collectors. Most of the time relationships and marriages fail do to gambling .When disgusting about gambling it is important to realize the affect it can have on people economically ,socially ,physically and psychologically. Gambling can lead to loss of job ,depression ,anti-social personality disorder, and direction towards alcohol and drug use. Gambling is one of the worst habits to break but it can be accomplished with determination and support by the their families. I would like to conclude this essay with another verse in the from Mick Jaggers’ lyrics † You walk through my walls like a ghost â€Å".It is true that we all have bad habits ,for some it is easy to stay from them because of the way their lifestyle is .But for other’s bad habits are always on the back of their mind as they struggle to stay away from the ghost on their wall.