What are your daily habits?

When it comes to “daily habits,” I actually had to think for a while.

I’m not entirely sure which things count as real habits, and which ones are just held together by sheer willpower.

Take climbing the stairs, for example — from two floors underground up to the seventh. I’ve been doing it for years, but honestly, I still have to convince myself every single day:

“Come on, just do it. Otherwise you’re not getting any exercise today.”

That’s not really a habit. It feels more like a conscious choice I make each time.

I know it’s good for me, and I hope I’ll keep doing it, but it never runs on autopilot. It costs effort, every time.

The things that actually feel like habits tend to be softer, yet more stable.

Like calling my girlfriend every day.

Sometimes we talk about our day after work, sometimes it’s just a quick goodnight. But it happens — without ceremony, without reminders. As natural as brushing my teeth.

And then there’s the list of “almost-habits” — the things I wish were habits, but aren’t quite there yet.

I want to code a bit every day, take better notes, scroll less, sleep earlier, get more sunlight…

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I’m always somewhere between “I should” and “Eh, I’ll give myself a break today.”

Maybe that’s just what life is like for most people.

The things that stick — the ones that truly become habits — are usually tied to emotion, not discipline.

Everything else, no matter how good or logical it sounds, still needs reminders, still takes effort.

And that’s okay.

I believe some things become habits over time.

That daily phone call? It started as a way to stay close, and over time became just part of life.

Maybe all the other things I still have to push myself to do will one day become second nature too.