J.R. Johnson

Some habits are good, some not so much. How do you break a bad habit (just as a totally random example, like jumping straight into day job work instead of carving out a bit of time for creativity)? 

It’s National Poetry Month, so here’s a poem on the subject. And while I don’t necessarily agree with the slightly depressing penultimate line (“unhelped, alone”), I do think the larger message is a good one: if you made it, you can break it.

Habit

How shall I a habit break?

As you did that habit make.

As you gathered, you must lose;

As you yielded, now refuse.

Thread by thread the strands we twist,

Till they bind us, neck and wrist;

Thread by thread the patient hand

Must untwine, ere free we stad;

As we builded, stone by stone,

We must toil unhelped, alone,

Till the wall is overthrown.

— John Boyle O’Reilly

* * *