Isn’t it funny how quickly things become habits? It’s cool because you don’t need to realize the automatic programming has taken place in your brain.
But the next thing you know, you’ve developed a new habit or behavior. For instance, how often do you pick up your phone to look for new notifications? When there’s nothing there, do you open up FB and mindlessly scroll through about three times? Yeah, technology has definitely given us all some interesting new habits and superstitions. Similarly, I noticed a new habit when our indoor air temperature system broke down out of the blue. More specifically, our neighborhood lost power in a huge summer storm and my HVAC system was electrocuted by lightning. The entire central heating and cooling system was fried, and there was no chance that it was going to turn on anytime. I needed a professional heating and cooling specialist to rapidly come inspect my sad air handling equipment and let me know the next steps. So, I was anxiously pacing around the house, Googling possible solutions for rapidly purchasing a new energy efficient heating and cooling equipment for the house. That’s exactly when I realized that I was doing something nonsensical. Even though I knew for a fact that the central heating and cooling system was not working, I couldn’t stop myself from wandering past the thermostat every minute or two and waiting for the screen to come on. I would see the dark screen, hit some buttons to adjust the indoor air temperature, and wait to hear cool air passing through the vents. Even without any working power, I was programmed to care about the thermostat program.