We’re all creatures of habit

I’ve always been intrigued by the calf-path story, which involves a calf that took a long circuitous route home to the barn each day. If it had only stood back and analyzed the situation, it would have seen that following a straight line would have been the shortest and best path.

We are all creatures of habit. I wake up about the same time each day without an alarm clock. I take my daily neighborhood walk with little variation. Visit a local fast food restaurant about the same time each morning. Park in the same spot each time. I see the same senior citizens sitting at the same tables each morning.

Always the same

I line my currency in my wallet the same way all the time, $20s in the back and $1s in the front. Always eat the same breakfast. Buy the same gasoline at the same station.

Before my retirement 25 years ago, I followed the same route to my Commercial Intertech job day in and day out — without ever determining if it was the best path.

Webster’s defines a habit as, “a tendency to perform certain action or behave in a certain way, a habitual or characteristic condition of mind or body ... a pattern of action that is acquired and has become so automatic that it is difficult to break.”

I almost forgot to include one of my most powerful habits: playing the same Ohio Lottery games daily and playing at least one set of the Rolling Cash 5 numbers over and over. They are my four grandchildren’s birthdays and mine. No luck yet.

Michael J. Lacivita of Youngstown is an inductee in the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.