“That’s just how I am” is a sentence people use to lock the door on their own growth.

The phrase ends conversations, which is its function. It converts a changeable behaviour into a fixed condition and excuses you from thinking about it further, usually at the precise moment somebody was about to say something true. A few things about you genuinely are fixed. Almost nothing you use this sentence about belongs on that list.

Next time it surfaces, finish it differently: that is how I have been so far. Then ask whether you want to keep it. The answer is allowed to be yes, provided it is a choice rather than a door.