stuck on words + phrases

Have you ever written words or a phrase and been like, "Yessssssss so good." I hope so, because that probably means you love writing, and are thus in the right place!

But then, you form an attachment with that wording. So, you slip it in again and again...until you've lost count of the amount of times you've used it.

Cloaked in shadows was my most recent occurrence of this strange phenomenon. It's not even a really great phrase, but for whatever reason, I DUG it. Example number one below!

"Luna was used to moving with grace through darkness. Shadows and light bent to her will. She’d been training for it her whole life, though she hadn’t known it was training then. Her heart beat silently as she slid through the woods. With a flick of her wrist, she cloaked herself deeper in shadows and dimmed the light from the moon and stars above. She darted between trees, away from the pounding of approaching footsteps. Then suddenly she stopped. She knew she was the most dangerous thing in these woods now. There was nothing to run from anymore, nothing to fear as the footsteps pounded closer and closer. Her fingertips sparked in anticipation. She was the chosen protector, but she couldn’t protect herself from the Protectresses."

Okay, so the first time, this was kinda cool (maybe). But, a quick search of my doc showed that I used it much much more than one, two or even three kinda cool times. So what to do? Say bye bye bye. Leave the one you want to make an impact, otherwise it loses its cool and gets lost in a circle of cloaked shadows.

If you've got examples of words/phrases you've done this with, I'd love to hear them!