Do you find yourself doing something that you feel like you do it way too much, or something that is just unhealthy? If you have finally decided that enough is enough and you would like to quit, please know that you are not alone. Although this road will be challenging and it may take some time, I believe that you can do it. I have a lot of things that I would like to quit, so I believe that if you are ready to do a detox of something, we can start this life changing journey together.
I have quite a few habits that I would like to break before the summer is over. But not to overwhelm myself at first I have decided to quit things in stages. The first thing that I want to quit is biting and picking my finger nails. I know, how disgusting right, but I have done this for as long as I can remember. It really sucks because it makes your hands look terrible and it hurts to do. So I have come up with a few ways to help me kick this habit.
First, you must admit that you have a problem. It can be hard to realize, but if this habit that you have is causing you pain or isn't making you happy, you have to admit that you need to change some things. You can start this process slowly, but admitting to yourself that you have this problem is half the battle.
Then you must identify what makes you turn to this habit. For me, I bite my nails when I'm really anxious or nervous about something. Whatever causes you to turn to this to help you cope with something, you must identify what you can do differently to have this same effect. For me, I turn to nail biting and picking when I am very anxious. To combat my anxiety, I do yoga daily. It helps relax me and also gives me a way to cope with my anxiety. Yoga also helps me to tone my body all at the same time, so it's a win win.
Another thing that I do is try to negatively reinforce the biting behavior in case I slip up. To do this I use stop the bite nail polish that my awesome friend Alyssa gave me to make my nails taste terrible. Every time I bite my nail, I get this horrible flavor that stays in my mouth for a few minutes. It's so disgusting that I never want to put my hands near my mouth again.
I have also created other methods to help me quit this habit. Sometimes when anxious or when you are bored, you need to do something to distract yourself from the feeling. To do this I use a stress ball or a hair tie to play with. Using these helps prevent me from picking my nails when I have nothing to do. I also am getting in the habit of picking off nail polish, instead of my actual nail. Every couple of days I will do a nice job of painting my nails(thus giving me things to do when I'm bored). I get to experiment with different colors and the polish will strengthen my nails. When I pick off the polish, it prevents damage to my nails and I will stop picking them once it is gone.
A very important thing while detoxing is giving yourself rewards after a certain time limit. You can come up with the rewards system yourself, based on what you would love to do or have. For me, I have decided that after Christmas, if I'm successful I will get mani/pedis with my friends.
Just note that after a month, this detox will become easier! As I go through this detox I will update how it is going periodically. If you need something like this in your life, please feel free to join me :)
-Take care and good luck, Katrina
No comments:
Post a Comment