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ontheroadtobeauty , 30 Aug 2012

Day 2: Still pick free. One day at a time.

Yesterday I had realized I had gone a third of my day without picking, so I tried to go the entire day without picking. I succeeded, and now I'm going to try not to pick today, or the next day, or the next day, or the next day, or any of the days ahead of me. Its one day at a time. It really is. You can't get ahead of yourself when you're trying to recover. Wish me luck, and good luck to you all.
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finallyreadytostop
August 30, 2012
The problem at the moment is that thinking about not picking is making me itch where my scabs are so I feel like I need to scratch and it may lead to picking. When you say that you have managed to do this for an entire day, did you do it by constantly thinking about it or were you able to let it slip your mind for any length of time?
ontheroadtobeauty
August 30, 2012
Hello Finallyreadytostop. To answer your question, I caught myself a couple of times starting to rub or feel my skin, and I knew that I had to monitor myself. I had to constantly think about it and constantly watch my hands because if I didn't, my hands would take it to themselves to wander my body. It's a 24/7 pure will power kind of thing. You can do it too. Just remember that it's not worth it. It's not worth the shame, pain, embarrassment, and health risk.
beautifultears
August 31, 2012
Hi. I just joined..I mean, right now I decided that I need to admit that I need some people who understand to talk to and YOU are exactly what I need!!! ENCOURAGEMENT! Thank you...just reading that u have gone 3 days tells me that I will be able to overcome this! I have been picking since I was a kid but it was never really anything too significant...sure, the chewed fingernails that hurt and bled, a scab here and there. For years I have had a body that I actually liked to show off (not at all said in a bragging way) I was a bakini girl.I. was the "hot" wife (again, not to be taken ina negative way) I was confident...until the end of june...THIS year! I don't even know what happened!!! I got overly stressed one night and just sat there not even realizing how badly I was damaging myself. I looked in the mirror the next day and sobbed! How ironic that today, two months later I would love to only have the wounds I sobbed over that morning, today my arms, legs, chest, and shouldres are so completely covered in ugly wounds of different healing stages that my whole sense of self has been crushed. To hear you say u ar on day 3 is music to my ears! I'm so so so happy for u! Please tell me how u managed to do this!
cleanthumbs
September 03, 2012
Day 1 for me! Last night my sister and I decided on the phone to work together (even though she's halfway across the country) to stop picking the cuticles on our thumbs. She and I have the same problem and do the same thing. We've been doing it for years. Last night I gave myself a simple manicure, and put band-aids on my thumbs. Now I think I will only wear the band-aids for a day or two, just to concentrate my awareness about the problem. But then I think i should take them off so i can learn how to stop the behavior without this 'crutch.' I am an active AA person, so I'm familiar with the whole 12-step model, which is so very helpful, even if you aren't someone who has a strong 'higher power' or God in your life (which I don't). I plan to work on this and check in here daily. Wish me luck! Any tips or suggestions welcome!

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