When a successful marketing executive has a panic attack over spilled cereal and a talented construction worker sabotages his own education for the third time, two strangers begin parallel journeys that will transform everything they thought they knew about themselves.

Maya Chen appears to have it all—a thriving career, a beautiful family, and the kind of organized life that makes other parents envious. But beneath her polished exterior, she's drowning in perfectionist anxiety, haunted by the belief that love must be earned through flawless performance. When a minor work email triggers a devastating panic attack, Maya is forced to confront the invisible patterns that have been controlling her life for decades.

Across town, Jake Rivera is stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage that's become as predictable as it is painful. Despite his natural intelligence and passion for electrical work, he can't seem to stop avoiding the very opportunities that could change his future. Haunted by his father's unpredictable anger and his own explosive reactions to criticism, Jake has learned that it's safer not to try at all than to risk the crushing disappointment of failure.

What Maya and Jake don't realize is that their struggles aren't character flaws—they're intelligent survival strategies developed by children trying to navigate overwhelming circumstances. Through therapy, somatic healing, and the patient work of what they come to call "habit archaeology," both begin to excavate the hidden origins of their automatic behaviors.

As they dig deeper into their family histories and nervous system responses, Maya and Jake discover that their so-called negative habits are actually adaptive responses that once served important protective functions. The perfectionism that exhausts Maya protected a little girl who learned that love came with conditions. The avoidance that frustrates Jake shielded a young boy from the unpredictable criticism that felt like emotional annihilation.

But what happens when survival strategies outlive their usefulness? And is it possible to transform inherited patterns of trauma into conscious choices for healing?

Set against the backdrop of contemporary psychology and trauma research, Habit Archaeology follows two unforgettable characters as they learn to approach their deepest patterns with curiosity rather than judgment, discovering that the path to authentic change lies not in eliminating their humanity but in understanding it with unprecedented compassion.

A powerful exploration of intergenerational trauma, post-traumatic growth, and the courage required to break cycles that have shaped families for generations, this novel offers hope for anyone who has ever wondered if real change is possible.