We all have our bad habits.. but right now I'm trying to break my nail-biting habit.
So, just for an empathy exersize - what habits do you have to break, are trying to break, have broken?

I'm trying to not bite my nails by wearing 2 big red rubber bands on my wrists, and giving them a snap whenever my fingers go in my mouth.

Tell ya what, it's worked so far today.

I was biting mine as i clicked the thread :D

Should stop it ... sorta half-asses tried

Not what u mentioned it ... im gonna stop :D

Yeah, it would be nice if i can give up smokin.

Heme - go the rubber band snaps :P
I'm also triucking myself into having an itchy chin, if I notice my fingers in my mouth I scratch my chin - useful diversion however I'm beginning to think I have a split personality.

I have to give up my constant negative attitude

nails are easy

what my mother did to my sister ages ago to stop her was you buy this nail polish solution
you apply it whenever you need to and when u bite your nails, you get a really bad (but safe) taste in your mouth

Cycosis - I've been a nail biter since I was a toddler - that s*** doesn't work for the serious biter. I end up putting up with the taste, or I lick it off.
I've even tried chilli juice which I have a low tolerance for.. but still I manage to deal :/

I had long nails twice.. but stress caused me to gnaw them all off.

im going through that right now - and its working awesome. I dont use rubber bands, my girlfriend just decided that its unsightly to have 'chewnon' fingernails...

So i made a concious effort to stop, and now, within like 2 weeks i have longer nails than i ever have, they look pretty cool, but any longer and they are getting trimmer (not going past the end of finger)

GL bro

That nail solution tastes like s***! :/
I should buy some :D

I was biting mine as i clicked the thread :D

Same hahahaha. I have a habit and im not getting rid of it hehe

My habit is staying up late, been doing it for the last half year, feel like s*** most of the time due to it.

well i have a habit of not being bothered to do things, and i couldn't be bothered breaking the habit D: help me

think of nail biting as CBG. Continual Body Grooming

ahaha
It's like quitting procrastination "Meh, I'll do it later"

replace it with another habit, bite your nipples or something

• staying up late sitting here doing f*** all.
  
• procrastinating (oh sweet jeesuz I want to lose this, I'll never do anything in life with it.)
  
• dirty room. my feng-shui (whatever) is real bad. I have a average sized room, but it feels like a cupboard most of the time. Gives me a headache and this s***ty depressed feeling being in here.
  
• general laziness

I smoked for about 5 years, by the end it was a pack a day. One day I just stoped smoking, that was about 3 years ago.

Like a band aid.. RIGHT OFF!

I reckon the best advice for breaking habits is to just break them. Cold Turkey. Maybe you'll need a spark, maybe you'll be lucky and just magically stop doing it. Who knows. Just stop whining about it, and do it. My 2c.

easy solution to biting your nails, shove your hand up your arse, ull stop biting s*** off your fingers sooner, or have no friends, and hence the problem makes no difference

i guess you could try wearing gloves or fiddle with something to keep your hands busy, like a pen when you get cravings

Cold Turkey

For cold turkey to work, the person has to be strong minded. But there are some people, who can give up just like that.

I gave up smoking when i started dating zoix. it was pretty easy. i don't get any urges to smoke again.. not even when i'm drinking. so thats pretty good.

Although i do kind of chew on my fingernails when i'm bored.. i work in a call centre so i'm either flat out working.. or sitting around reading nw or whatever mags people have left at work.

my mum gave up smoking cold turkey, took her around 20 trys though. best idea i've heard so far is the nailpolish one, as if you'd lick it off though!

hihi
Is biting nails a form of canibalism ? 0.o

no i think its more like a form of grooming, cave man styles.

i stopped biting my finger nails for a while recently, but in the past few months i started again :/ i bite them pretty far back too. mostly it's a nerve thing i think, but since i'm always nervous (i think?)...

it's hard, but i just tell myself not to. other things don't work because i consciously do it, so i get around whatever it is. for instance: that stuff you paint onto your nails that tastes horrid? i just wash it off in irritation. that rubber band thing... i would either take it off or not snap it.

I don't bite my nails. Only time I do is if one of them goes all funny, like jagged or breaks and I can't find a pair of nail clippers, scissors, tinsnips, ANYTHING SHARP to cut them with. Nails that catch on clothes absolutely s***s me to tears and is one thing I can NOT stand. Nervous thing I do though is bite my lip/cheeck. I've always got a cracked lip because of it or a sore cheek :(

Going to bed late is another one. even if I'm tired I won't go to bed even if I'm not doing anything I'll just sit here trying to find something to do, I hate sleeping. Also must try to stop bossing everyone around, especially my boss :(

Every morning do a prostate exam on your self (stick ya finger up ya bum).

HUNTER@
DIEq

ergh. Day two and my wrists are sore as! :(
but I have little white tips which I normally rip off ;D

Fingernails are the least of your problems j/k :P don't get depressed

Don't be a cocknut teen. I know it's hard ;P

"Hi, My name is Lulu, and I'm a compulsive nail biter"

I'm not kidding, I can't stop. I've tried everything but hypnosis and nothing works!!! Still, I figure, wtf am I gonna do about it, when there's PLENTY of other stuff I can do?

i was biting my nail for like 15 years until a month ago, all it takes is willpower. its easier then giving up cigs id guess. wouldnt know tho.

lu lu - tried rubber bands? not only is it a good FLICK remedy but it gives my fingers something to do. (fiddle with the bands)

I have a pretty disgusting habit.... picking my....... nose.....

I just can't help it, I've done it since I was a little kid. Somebody help me...... I generally hide so no one sees now, but I just want to kick it still, its disgusting I know, but its just something I help. I wipe it on my chair, if I get anything, which I generally don't.

Grosby -
tried that, I ended up somehow actually breaking the skin and leaving myself with a really sus looking scar for weeks, which I still kinda have!

i can pretty much stop whenever i want.. i bite them miles to far.. but if i want to stop i can.. but i don't bite them cos i'm nervous or stressed.. i just get bored so i bite it.. then i get one bit.. and want to get it right off..so i keep biting.. they look gross.. i'm going to stop..

Never had a nail biting problem but a trick I use when I want to change habits is easy.

When there is a major change in your life, make the bad habit change at the same time.

Eg: Years ago I used to smoke pot daily (only at night after work) I wanted to cut back/give up but I was in a regular routine which made it hard.

When I moved house (therefore routine change) I stoppped from that very day, not hard at all.

Another recent one was changing jobs, cut down crap food and cut out beers during the week :)

It works I tell ya, just gotta time it right :)

aah good work Mission - however I tend to anticipate events, grow my nails then when event comes along I chew chew chew :/
I"m growing my nails for 3 reasons now, one of them is an impending event (in over a year) so I'm hoping to break habit and break any further relapses in that time.

STRESS

Looky at what Good Ol' GOogle found


http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/henry1.html

Oh and I have never had the biting my nails thing and can;t understand it but that article explains it well I think

lu-lu - next tip, do you get ashamed when people look at your nails?
Apparently getting the most bright red nail polish and putting it on your nails helps because it attracts people attention to your nails and makes you think twice about biting them.

:/

I smoked for about a decade, then work up one morning and decided to quit. That was about a year and a half.

I"m growing my nails for 3 reasons now, one of them is an impending event (in over a year) so I'm hoping to break habit and break any further relapses in that time.

STRESS

It is customary to explain #2 and 3, I'm on edge waiting for the conclusion.

1. Wedding coming up in a bit over a year.
2. I feel as if i'm dissapointing dead people (my mum and I grew our nails before she passed) and
3. I want to have kids and I don't want them to pick up the nail biting habit by watching me do it.
:D

try wearing gloves all the time for a couple of weeks

that way you can not see your nails and it is hard chewing through gloves.

I used to bite my nails when I was back at school. I'm glad I don't anymore because now I get to file them instead. They look heaps better.

8-)

chix dig guys with nice nails
i get woman to file/clean/cut/manicure mine;

You lazy bastard Spook

8-)

Wish someone did that for me. Also wish I could get a massage each day as well.

What a cry for attention... =P

Oops, I have a bad habit of pointing out the obvious.

i had the habbit of doing the clicky thing that Ali G does i did that f***gin heaps!! now i dont do it so much any more !! boyakasha

nail biting....fkn i gave it up...then started again ffs =/

tis a real problem...specially if it get infected =/

Unhealthy food. It's combination bad habit and a passion.

Oh and I'm trying to kick that "always right" thing.

That "always right" thing isn't really a habit. More of a delusional mental problem thing.

btw, Hi Gobo!

Mantra knows all about deludid mental states.

btw, Hi Mantra!

Greetings mortal :P

btw, Jesus is ugly.

Get a job!

yer i cant see jesus as a good looking man !!

Swearing, i have a real bad habit of swearing :( And i'm trying to stop, but it's not working all that well so far.



The nail biting thing is somehting i'm going through right now. I went to the pharmacy today to buy some solution, but i need somehting potent or else i'll just keep chewing them.

one of my co-workers in bringing in some Aloe Vera for me to put on my nails. Apparently it's really f***ed up.

Necra - I did that, stopped swearing

Just get ur friends, and ppl ur around the whole day to hit you really hard (two of my friends actually did it with a ruler - bitches).
After a while, if they do it for real, you'll stop quickly. After a while, you can actually begin to think of adjectives to take the places of "s***", "f***", "dick", etc

hihi
Stopping swearing is easy.
Introduce a swear box.
Every swear word costs $1

Extension.
Something I heard was to have a swear box - then at the end of the week, give the money in there to someone you don't like.
mwahahahaha.

What about Chronic WANKING!

Not that I do it of course. I'm asking for a friend who suffers from this age old problem .................................................................................................................................... ;oD

heh heh !