This is a question that has crossed my mind multiple times lately and I could think of no better way to work through it than to write about it.
First, let's start with the action that sprung this chain of thought last week.
I own a scooter and I've had a license to drive scooters since I was 16 years old, which is the minimum age to get one. In the over four and a half years that I've been driving scooters I've had three different scooters. I got my first one in the brand PGO in the Lingo model and I absolutely loved it. Granted, it took me a winter before I began driving it regularly because I was afraid of driving in snow but that's a story for another time.
This white PGO scooter was chic, classic and fun. I loved it but unfortunately it was unable to survive when an old lady decided to make a right turn right in front of me causing me to emergency brake and the scooter to get stuck under her car and my foot the get caught in-between. Okay, this makes it sound worse than it was; I managed to almost brake before the collision and my foot only got a little bruised. However, the scooter was damaged and the insurance got me a new one, same brand and a newer version of the same model, just in red this time.
Now, this scooter I had for about three years and I loved it as much as the first. It was the same kind with the lock to the helmet room in the ignition and it worked splendidly. Unfortunately, one day I came to collect it in its shed and the door was open and no scooter to be seen. I was probably more upset than I should have been and actually had a full-on cry.
Our insurance didn't cover thief as we didn't didn't have a theft insurance as this would have been an extremely expensive insurance and it wasn't worth it. However, I still needed a new scooter as it was still my transport to and from school and out to my horse.
Sadly, the make of my old scooters had gone out of production and I couldn't get one like it. I was very, very upset as I tend to get very emotionally attached to my things and when I find something that works I won't replace it unless I absolutely have to (like if it gets stolen or stops working).
I found a VGA scooter that I liked the look of and it was on sale, so I bought it. However, I had another full-on cry while I drove it home from the shop. It worked fine but I wanted my old scooter back and cursed the thieves to hell for taking my beloved scooter.
Now, with all this long background story in mind, it brings me to the point of this post. My new scooter has a separate lock to the helmet room on its side and not in the ignition as my two old ones. I've had my new scooter since the beginning of this year but sometimes I still try to unlock the helmet room by twisting the key in the ignition. I'm baffled every time I do this because I know that won't work and I don't know if it's just the old habit or muscle memory or what that makes me try to treat my new scooter as the old ones.
At my job, we got a new check-in and check-out system that began over three months ago and they also moved the screen to the opposite side of the front door. Still today, I see people walking towards the wrong side only to realise their mistake and turn on the heels before they've reached the place where the old screen was. They usually smile in my direction and I smile back, trying to convey inaudibly that I get them. I do that too. To be fair, some of them have worked in there for over ten years and compared to that I guess three months is quite a short time, especially when most where on holiday for some of the time.
Having pondered over the topic for a while I've come to a conclusion of sorts. I think the reason these particular habits die so hard because they represent the first time we tried something and that then meant it was the way we learnt things. I still try to open my helmet room that way because it's how I first leant how to do it. My co-workers still go to the "wrong" side because that's where they've been going every since the organisation moved into the new building ten years ago. It's how they learnt to when they were first introduced to the things.
Maybe, we're more affected by our firsts than we think. I know this is the case with horseback riders that doesn't lean to have the right posture right away. They'll struggle with that for a long time if not forever. They can work against it and get better at sitting up straight, holding their hands right, placing their weight correctly, etc. but when they're tired or unfocused they'll slip back into those bad habits.
It's scary to think about it...
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