I started the calendar thing on Monday evening. :)

I broke each day into 3 parts – morning (getting ready), day (work time), and night (after work and bedtime). If I don’t pick during a time slot, I get a sticker, and I can get up to 3 stickers each day. Eventually, I’ll aim for full days, but for now, I’m aiming for a few hours at a time – baby steps!!

Even though I had picked during the day on Monday and some that evening, I wanted to start strong, so I put the calendar on the bathroom mirror and didn’t pick while I got ready for bed. So I gave myself one sticker. Yesterday I was really good and I got 3 stickers! This morning I got a sticker too. If I’m good today and tonight, that will be 48 hours!! Woohoo!

My rules are sort of like derface9’s rules: no intentional picking. If I catch myself picking subconsciously, that picking doesn’t count, but if I choose to KEEP picking, then NO sticker.

The only other allowance right now is (gently) picking off flaky skin – where old stuff is healing – since it’s messes up my makeup. :-p Eventually though, that has to stop too. Hopefully it will start to go away on its own when my skin isn’t constantly in “healing mode.”

My husband is helping me too and asks me several times a day how I’m doing. He says, “No picking!” if it looks like I’m about to. (Also, if I pick at HIS skin, no sticker.)

I hope this is going to be the key for me, though it’s pretty early on and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. But the fact that I haven’t picked since Monday night is pretty great! :)

(This is totally unrelated, but the quote at the bottom right made me laugh: “You are noticed more if you stand on your head than you are if you are the right way up.” – George Orwell)

Good luck to all of you today…