Don’t get too familiar…

There are things in your life that feel so natural, so embedded, that they rarely get questioned.

Beliefs, assumptions, behaviors — they live quietly in the background, shaping your daily life without needing permission or attention.

They feel right not because they are right, but because they’re familiar.

Like a favorite chair that’s always lived in the corner of the room, certain patterns of thought and behavior settle in over time.

They become part of your internal landscape.

But familiarity isn’t the same as usefulness.

The brain loves habits.

It creates them as mental shortcuts — efficient ways to conserve energy, reduce decision fatigue, and move through the day without overthinking.

That has its role, until those shortcuts start steering you toward outcomes you never intended.

Not all habits are created consciously.

Some of your habits were formed in response to stress, fear, or early success.

Others were inherited from organizational norms, cultural expectations, or childhood roles.

Without periodic examination, your habits continue to run the show — whether or not they serve the life you’re trying to build.

You might automatically stay quiet in a meeting, take on more than your share of the work, stay up too late, or brace for disappointment before it arrives.

These aren’t random behaviors; they once had a purpose.

But the question is: do they still?

When you pause to take something off the mental shelf—a habit, a belief, a well-worn story—and look at it in the light, you gain the power to choose.

Is this supporting the impact you want to have? Or is it holding you back?

You can reimagine some of your habits.

There may be others you need to let go.

But none of that happens without i n t e n t i o n.

The shift comes when you stop letting your habits choose for you, and you start choosing them.

This is what it means to live a created life instead of a default life.

Photo by 정규송 Nui MALAMA on Pexels

To make the unconscious conscious.

To trade default settings for deliberate design.

What are you choosing to keep today?

What are you ready to release?

To quote James Clear, “every action you take is casting a vote for the person you wish to become.”

What do your habits say about the type of person you are becoming?

Love,

Audrey