Wednesday, April 11, 2007

But, Knitblogger, what big hangnails you have!

Today, I'd like to discuss the power of the blog.

-I have used the blog as knitting motivation to excellent effect. Nothing will get me to turn a heel or pick up collar stitches like the carrot of blogging my progress the next day.

-I have used the blog to rekindle my love of photo taking. My camera won't make art as some cameras can, but recording the world around me and my friends and my family is something I used to do in photos and in words as a girl and a teen. I loved to do it. I lost interest in my journals when my life started to be happy (not as fun when you've nothing to bitch about and no boys to pine over), but it just turned out I needed a new vehicle for my recordings.

-I have even used the blog to revive a tree and develop a love for green things. (For those interested, the tree is doing very well. The leaves are pretty big now.) This process was as much about motivation to me as it was about accountability. This blog helped me break a bad habit, that of feeling guilty about not watering the tree and yet still not watering it.







So I wonder... if the blog could help me make these life changes, what else could I use it for? And then I think about how badly my thumbs hurt right now... and I wonder what your tolerance would be for hangnail talk. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a terrible habit. I used to bite my nails as a young person, and when I managed to stop doing that (without a blog, imagine!), I traded my habit for picking on my cuticles. It hurts, and it's ugly, and I hate that I do it, but hating it doesn't seem to have been enough for me to bother not doing it. So perhaps shame of showing my poor thumbs to you will help me remember to leave them alone. Thus, I take this opportunity, on the 3 Year Anniversary of the day I Quit Smoking, to pledge to quit making my thumbs bleed. This is what they look like today:




Right now, they are wrapped up safely in Bandaids where they will stay all day. The last time they looked nice was right after my wedding, because the acrylic nails weren't effective diggers. The wedding was nearly a year ago, and my thumbs have looked like this basically every day since the acrylics came off. Horrible!!

Thank you for your tolerance on this matter. I promise not too ever post a photo that looks worse than this. I am hoping that they will look much better in just a few days and then it will be a matter of maintaining long enough to stop the behavior altogether. Don't they say you can build a new habit in 28 days? What about breaking them?

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SENOR, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.

For my latest knitting pledge, see my latest post on the Knit From Your Stash Blog

5 comments:

amanda said...

I have actually started biting my nails again (after no biting for YEARS), but not because I'm nervous or angsty or sexually frustrated. It's more that I can't afford/don't have time for regular manicures, and when a nail gets too long and janky, I just bite it off. I should probably stop doing that.

Anne-Marie said...

my thumbs and fingers look like that too! Go buy yourself a little tin of burts bees lemon cuticle butter and everytime you start picking, rub in some of that. It also smells REALLY good but tastes horrible. It seems to make my nails grow faster too (they probably dont, but i'l believe what i like)

JenniferB said...

YES you can break a habit like that. But you have to always be conscious of doing it. If you do it while you read and aren't paying attention, you have to change that. Read with something in your hands so you can't do it. Etc. I used to have thumbs like that, believe it or not. And now I don't. You can do it!

ellipsisknits said...

I did the exact same thing. I bit my nails as a small kid, and stopped that by putting polish on them. But it transfered to biting at my cuticles. I managed to stop that when I got engaged by looking at my ring, but it transfered to picking at the skin on my shoulders. (yes, that's really weird) I wish I could find a way to actually stop the habit, as opposed to moving it around.
On the other hand, if you've managed to quite smoking, you must have some skill in the will-power area. Good luck! Tell us any hints.
-C

Anonymous said...

That's nothing. My husband is still a nail biter, and he used to pick at his cuticles so badly that they were red and puffy all the way down to the first knuckle. Very gross. A big part of the solution was that he started carrying one of those teeny swiss army knives in his pocket, so whenever he gets a hangnail he can cut it right off before he picks at it. Of course, every six months or so the knife falls out of his pocket and he has to replace it, but it's well worth the investment. Good luck!!