Stop picking my lips

Today i am beginning anew. After all the stress from my new Masters program I was just devouring my lips & hurting myself. I’m fed up and worried about my appearance in the professional world.

My plan:
Every morning I will say OUT LOUD my goal of stopping this bad habit. If I accidentally slip, I will get up and do a brief exercise to distract my body. Of course, continuing with the lip balms & glosses and Neosporin will be included as well.

I hope that I stay serious and dedicated because I know from past experience that you just have to stop- even though its so much easier to say than do.

I stopped for a while again, with a huge amount of effort, but alas- I’ve relapsed. I hate this. After not picking for about 4 days its a lot easier to not pick (even if I put my hands to my mouth) but to get to that point seems impossible. I think its been worse in the past few days because of all the things I need to get done and have been procrastinating on, etc. I need to make the decision again. Here we go!

it’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one who does this too, and i’ve tried to do some research just online before. I’ve been able to stop twice in my life. once was 2 weeks long, and recently this summer i stopped probably for about a month. im always so proud of myself when im doing ok in those situations, but i just cant stop permanently!

I’ve been a lip gloss/ chapstick fiend for a long time, and they don’t help me much anymore. There’s always that little flake poking out that I HAVE to get. I hate it! Everyday I peel the all of skin off of my bottom lip. Usually, if im somewhat trying, I can hold off during the beginning of the day while I’m in classes, but once I get home and Im in front of the computer or the tv, its almost subconcious!

I agree with a lot of you who say that this is partially an anxiety and/or OCD issue. I am usually a very tense person and combining that with the fact that im convinced that my dad has/had an alcohol problem, I can understand why im “addicted” to this action. Im thinking about seeing a hypnotist at this point since I feel like I’ve already tried everything else. hey, they help smokers quit, right?!