My Nails Today

Once upon a time, I was a serious nail chewer. I had been doing it for as long as I could remember. I never had nails, I'd chew my nails and the skin around them until they bled. On a daily basis. My nails were a serious embarrassment, and every time I went out, or anything, I felt like I needed to hide my fingers. They were horrible looking. Stumpy nails, bleeding hangnails, ugh. The latest photo that I took of my fingers in this state, was when I posted about some knitting projects I made. They looked so terrible then! One day, I decided I did not want to hide my fingers anymore. I made the decision that day to stop chewing on them.

It was difficult to do. I had to consciously pull my fingers out of my mouth most of the time, remind myself to stop. I found that if I kept my nails painted, I was more likely to keep them out of my mouth. Because of this, I bought a lot of nail polish. I was making a good amount of money in a job I hated, so I spent a lot of money on polish. A little while ago, I even took my blog on a tour of my nail polish unit. Taking photos of those, and posting them was just a little embarrassing, I (or my husband) did not realize how much I had... or how much money went towards it.

While I do not buy any nail polish anymore, I definitely accomplished my goal of not chewing on my fingers anymore. It was a long process of keeping my nails painted, making sure my cuticles stayed moisturized to stop the hang nails, and constant reminding myself to keep them away from my face.

I am so proud of my nails now. I never bite on them anymore. At this point, they actually grow so long that I have to trim them all the back down because they get in the way. A few years ago, I never imagined that I would ever have that problem. My current nails are proof to myself that I really can do whatever I set my mind to. I just need to make a decision, and commit to it, like I did with my nails.