On Habits in 2016

There's an article I read along time ago about how the habits you form today are the habits that stick with you for the rest of your life. The article was one about forming the habit of traveling early on so that in your 30s there would be no hesitation towards travel. In fact, if you do it right I suppose that your body will simply react to "travel" with adrenaline and you'd just go at it. No questions ask. Your body would react faster than your mind.

I think that's a goal I have for my 20s. To form good habits. And I think that a lot of focus on the really small habits like--I should be tidier, I should drink more water--all the while forgetting that the most important habits are ones we can't really track on a daily basis. When I turned 18, I wrote a letter to myself and I had 3 goals for myself.

• The first was that I would see travel more
• The second was that I would be a better kid, seeing as my parents put up with years of teenage angst.
• And the third was that I would be a better friend.

I didn't realize it then but I realize it now: these are the kind of things formed through habit. You make a habit out of traveling just like you make a habit out of not flaking on plans and you make a habit out of calling your parents and you make a habit out of remembering important things about the people you meet like where they're from and when their birthday is and what foods they can't eat.
The article I read said this: "life is a result of intentional habits," and it has manifested into a mantra I have for my 20s: to live intentionally, not passively.