Bad Behavior is Still “Bad Behavior,” Even If You’re AWARE of It!

The human psyche is a very interesting place. And when I say “interesting,” much of the time what I really want to say is mysterious and mystifying.

We humans are extraordinarily good at rationalizing stuff, and especially good at trying to rationalize ourselves away from some of our negative attributes... by downplaying their significance and impact.

I remember somebody I knew a long time ago telling me — quite openly — that she was “not a nice person.”

Now I'm always ready to applaud anybody who has a high level of self awareness, but using the statement ”I'm not a nice person” as a sort of ”hall pass” to continue not being a nice person while making no effort whatsoever to better yourself just doesn't strike me as OK.

I even remember my ex (there’s a good reason she’s my EX!) warning me that she was an ”angry person” and I definitely heard her statement, but she never made any efforts to be a less angry person.

What's my point here?

As the title of the post suggests, simply being aware of some form of negative behavior pattern and warning those around you that it exists does not somehow magically negate the fact that a person is engaged in a negative behavior pattern. It doesn't suddenly become ”OK” to be perpetually angry just because you tell the world that you're an angry person. There is an actual problem present that you could be working on to improve yourself!

Sadly, a lot of people seem to think that as long as they tell others that a problem exists they don't need to deal with that problem.

A lot of the time we do these sorts of things with respect to fairly harmless habits.

It might be something like saying ”oh, I always run late!” which is definitely a nice caution to share with your friends, but if you always run late wouldn't it behoove you to learn to pay a little more attention to time?

Of course there's a difference between personal shortcomings we can do nothing about, and those we can do something about. in this case, my irritation is primarily directed at things we can do something about, when people choose to ignore them anyway.

That's all I really have to say about that particular subject.

Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? Do you know anyone with bad habits? Does the person let you know the habit EXISTS, yet does nothing to change? Do you think that's acceptable? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210520 23:58 PDT
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