Bit of plagiarism but here goes:

What is a habit?

In order to successfully change habits, we have to know what we’re dealing with! Habit definition

Habits are routine behaviours done on a regular basis. They are recurrent and often unconscious patterns of behaviour and are acquired through frequent repetition. Many of these are unconscious as we don’t even realise we are doing them.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines habits as:

1.    an acquired mode of behaviour that has become nearly or completely involuntary 2.    the prevailing disposition or character of a person’s thoughts and feelings 3.    a settled tendency or usual manner of behaviour 4.    a behaviour pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance

So we can see that habits define our character, our thoughts and feelings and our ‘usual’ behaviours. We can also see that habits are behaviours that are nearly or completely involuntary and because they are repeated frequently, we become ‘better’ at them (increased facility of performance).

Psychology definition

A habit can also be thought of as a link between a stimulus and a response. It serves as a mental connection between a trigger thought or event (stimulus) and our response to that trigger (the response). Repeating this connection time and again forms a habit and affects all subsequent decisions and actions. If repeated often enough, this connection becomes near permanent unless we take conscious action to change it.

For example, a stimulus for overeating might be stress. The stress may be physical, emotional or mental and triggered by such things as a restricted diet, tiredness, an argument, a bad day at work or even negative thinking. A learned response for dealing with this stress may be eating. Over time, the bond may become so strong that our automatic or habitual response to stress is to eat. In psychology, this is known as classical conditioning, as demonstrated by Pavlov’s dogs. The dogs learnt to associate a tone with food and would salivate whenever they heard the tone whether there was food present or not.

In order to interrupt and eventually eliminate this negative behaviour, we must weaken the bond between the stimulus and the response, so it eventually it becomes ‘extinct.’ Hence, the technical name ‘extinction’ is rooted from this word.

OK so far?

This is my own work (source Habits of a Happy Brain):

So why is it so difficult to break a habit?

I've spent a lot of time reading my football coaching manuals and one thing that is ingrained is the continual need to practice routine drills to learn skills so they become second nature. The reason that young players are better at absorbing and learning these skills is that the can create myelin far more efficiently than adults. Myelin is a fatty coating which develops around the neurons making them far more efficient than bare neurons.

The electricity that courses through our brains finds the most efficient route. And that is the myelin coated neurons developed by habits (routine behaviours). Once a circuit has been created is is very difficult to break the circuit (you can't unlearn to ride a bike).

Myelination increase during puberty which is the very time that our crossdressing reaches it's most sexual and the habit (link between stimulus and response) is learned. The 'white matter' which is the part of the brain covered with myelin is so efficient that you feel inept when you try to do without it. The inept feeling motivates you to return to the old path, even when it's not in your best interests to do so. You can't help yourself.

Anyway it's a theory!

Katie