Did you ever have something with a tiny rip that would have only taken a couple of stitches to fix? Did you fix it or think to yourself that it wasn't "that bad" yet? If you didn't fix it, the rip probably got bigger and bigger until it became a project to fix it.

The same thing happens to us in life. Something starts small and if ignored can become a habit. The behavior was easily stopped in the beginning, but now requires a major effort to break the habit.

It could be something you are doing, or someone close to you is doing. Maybe a word in the beginning could stop the action and prevent it from ever becoming a habit.

Let’s look at an example. Perhaps someone you are close to (friend, lover, spouse) does or says something that is annoying to you. It is the first time this particular behavior has happened, so you ignore it. Since you didn’t react to the behavior, the other person doesn’t realize it bothered you. It happens again, you ignore it again. Over time the behavior happens more often until you reach a snapping point. You confront him/her with the behavior in anger. This leads to an argument. Depending on how annoying the behavior, or how angry the argument becomes, it may lead to an estrangement, separation, or divorce. There are hurt feelings on both sides. After all, the offending party thinks you are over-reacting (especially since you haven’t said anything about it before this).

Whether healing a relationship, or healing yourself, don’t procrastinate … act promptly. Matters will only get worse, not better, as time passes.