Stefanie Smith

...comes and goes.



I'm doing 28 things
 

Stefanie Smith's Life List

  1. 1. Think less and do more
    297 people
  2. 2. make a list of 100 things that make me happy.
    1 cheer
    548 people
  3. 3. get a PhD
    1 cheer
    2,977 people
  4. 4. go vegan
    910 people
  5. 5. learn Root
    2 people
  6. 6. Practice Yoga
    4,280 people
  7. 7. learn matlab
    1 cheer
    30 people
  8. 8. Hike more
    343 people
  9. 9. wake up when my alarm clock goes off
    7,469 people
  10. 10. plant a garden
    2,102 people
  11. 11. Learn how to meditate
    281 people
  12. 12. Run the Honolulu Marathon
    3 cheers
    8 people
  13. 13. Reduce my ecological footprint
    2 cheers
    365 people
  14. 14. learn more about photography
    320 people
  15. 15. travel the world
    21,060 people
  16. 16. write a poem a day
    29 people
  17. 17. change the world
    3,472 people
  18. 18. keep in touch with old friends
    1,601 people
  19. 19. make new friends
    13,788 people
  20. 20. go to the moon
    499 people
  21. 21. own an electric car
    57 people
  22. 22. write a book
    31,101 people
  23. 23. learn to play guitar
    5,035 people
  24. 24. Build a "green" home
    1 cheer
    13 people
  25. 25. open a used bookstore
    1 cheer
    22 people
  26. 26. see the northern lights
    19,103 people
  27. 27. go back in time
    331 people
  28. 28. have 43 things to do
    4 people

How I did it
How to floss Every Day
It took me
30 days
It made me
minty fresh!


How to stop biting my nails
It took me
4 years
It made me


How to learn LaTeX
It took me
2 weeks
It made me


See all "How I Did It" stories...

Recent entries
stop biting my nails
symptom of a larger issue

I was able to stop for almost two months last summer. My vacation happened to coincide with a renewed desire to kick the habit, so I thought I had done just that: overcome a simple habit. But once school started up again, I was shocked at how quickly my nails disappeared. Since then I’ve noticed a clear pattern; whether I travel or stay home, whenever school is not in session, my nails grow unimpeded.

It’s possible that it is just a habit that I unconsciously associate with school related activities, and thus, during breaks, when I’m not doing those activities, I’m not biting my nails. But it’s equally likely that this is a symptom of stress—a nervous habit. Which I’d never considered before because I started when I was quite young and I did it all the time (until just recently), and I’ve never thought of myself as a stressed or nervous person.

So this raises the question, could I really have been so stressed my whole life and not realized it? And how can I remove the stress without removing the causes of it (ie: school)?

Perhaps I should accept nail biting as the price of striving for certain goals in life.




 

I want to:
43 Things Login