NSV - Old habits die hard...REALLY hard!!

deeray82

Since I was 4 years old, I have had this awful habit of picking my fingernails, my cuticles, and the skin surrounding my fingernails. 24 years of this terrible, embarrassing, painful habit, and nothing ever worked to get rid of it.

But in my quest to improve myself - part of this quest was also joining MFP - I decided to also tackle other problem areas in my life, including this finger/nail-picking habit. I got the idea to just trim all of my fingernails WAY back, so that I couldn't pick at all, or it would at least be very difficult. For the first few nights, I would sleep with gloves that covered my Neosporin-slathered fingertips so that they would heal quickly, leaving nothing to pick. Eventually they were healed enough that I stopped sleeping with gloves on (it's not the most comfortable thing in the world), to the point that today I was showing my hands to some friends who knew about this habit, and another friend who didn't know piped up and said, "What, your cuticles? They're perfect!"

OMG!

My fingers have never been described, in any way, as "perfect."

It was amazing!! I have succeeded at breaking a really old, destructive habit. This is wonderful!!

It gives me renewed vigor in the quest to get healthy and lose weight, and I was too excited not to share.

LesliePierceRN

Wonderful!! As a lifetime nailbiter, I know exactly what you're talking about. Those childhood habits are near impossible to break! Go you!

mychirona

That's awesome! Changing your habits, especially more than one at a time, is no easy task! You should definitely be proud!

Mcctin65

OH MY GOSH! I do the same thing! Mine are a mess right now. I go thru phases with it though. I've never been nail biter but will pick at my cuticles until they are sore and bleeding. I had gel nails put on last fall and did perfectly fine while I had those. Once I had them removed I went right back to it. This is a very hard habit to break so I'm very proud of you! It's awesome that you are facing these challenges!
Good luck and keep up the good work!

AngieM76

From someone who used to be a nail biter, CONGRATS!! That is a habit that is SO hard to break!!!