Did you ever just give up a bad habit?

[Death Metal Moe]

I have, for over 2 decades now, been a fingernail biter. I would let them get long and bite them off. It's just what I do and it's a horrible habit.

Back about a month ago, with no warning, I just stopped biting them. I stopped and they got longer and longer. I actually had to go buy fingernail clippers for the 1st time in as many years. I have just lost the want and need to bite my fingernails. I don't understand it but I'm glad I have stopped so far. My nails are about ready to cut again, and that NEVER happens.

Anyone else ever have this happen to them?

[underdog]

I did the exact same thing with my fingernail biting. I used to bite them so bad that they'd bleed, and then one day I just decided to stop, and I did.

I also did it with smoking, after I had been smoking for about 11 years.

Stopping biting my fingernails was actually harder.

[PapaBear]

This is embarrassing. When I was a teen, I used to say "Oakie doke". I did it all the time, even though no one else around me ever said it. It annoyed me that I said it, but I just couldn't break the habit. The first time I went out on my own, I just stopped saying it.

And, no... I didn't say it like Ned Flanders.

[sailor]

i struggle with fingernail biting to this day. like underdog, quitting smoking was easier. i used to smoke two packs of camel regular (unfiltered) in college, then one day realized i was getting nothing from them, so i just stopped. no withdrawal, no agony. now, if there's a bar party i can smoke a pack and then stop again the next day. i smoked like two packs a few months ago and have not had a cigarette since. i just don't see them as addictive (until i get drunk).

yeah, the fingernail thing is much harder because most of the time it's not even a conscious decision. also, i tend to get ocd about it and if they are uneven i basically can't control the urge to try to even them out (which of course never works).

[Thebazile78]

I quit biting my fingernails when, after my first retainer, my front teeth didn't meet like they had before the retainer.

I was 11 or 12.

Sometimes the habit just doesn't trigger the same response in your brain, so you stop doing it without even thinking about it.

[LaBoob]

[quote=sailor;1666724]i struggle with fingernail biting to this day. like underdog, quitting smoking was easier. i used to smoke two packs of camel regular (unfiltered) in college, then one day realized i was getting nothing from them, so i just stopped. no withdrawal, no agony. now, if there's a bar party i can smoke a pack and then stop again the next day. i smoked like two packs a few months ago and have not had a cigarette since. i just don't see them as addictive (until i get drunk).quote]

Same here with the cigarettes...After trying to quit for several years I realized I hated the taste of cigarettes and hated the way I felt after smoking them (nauseous, dizzy), and it tapered off into nothing. Occasionally when I drink I like to have a few cigarettes but don't have any desire for one the next day. If I buy a pack for a night out I'll smoke one a night until the pack is gone and then I'm good.

Years ago, a hypnotist told me that fingernail biting was sometimes caused by anxiety caused by having a sibling. I wonder if there's any truth to that.

[eeroomnhoj]

The best example I can think of is my Father. He drank hard for 50 years and just gave it up. The doctor told him to quit drinking (or he'll die) and he did. No AA, no detox, no rehab.

He also gave up smoking after 25 years. Never smoked again.

[MadMatt]

Killing and burying hookers.

I gave up on burying them several years ago - just too much work. :thumbdown:

[spoon]

I have a good habit of making fun of Moe's retarded hygiene threads. I call them the "closet clues" threads. What you using for your skin texture and the conditioning of your hair these days Vidal Moesoon? :tongue:

[underdog]

yeah, the fingernail thing is much harder because most of the time it's not even a conscious decision. also, i tend to get ocd about it and if they are uneven i basically can't control the urge to try to even them out (which of course never works).

God, its the worst fucking feeling in the world. I still get the stupid uneven feeling, but I've gotten better at ignoring it.

[IMSlacker]

God, its the worst fucking feeling in the world. I still get the stupid uneven feeling, but I've gotten better at ignoring it.

I wasn't gonna say anything, but. . .

[FUNKMAN]

45 and still can't stop biting my nails. they don't look bad but I sometimes wish i had some especially when trying to get a knot out(you can't always have needle nose pliers around)

and i still do the 'fingernail floss' and will play with a clipping with my tongue and press it between my teeth and into and out of my gums, sometimes for hours...

i always justify the habit in my mind by thinking " it's better than smoking "

[keithy_19]

I bite my fingernails. I don't even know why I do it. Out of boredom I suppose?

My grandma started smoking when she was 12 years old. When she turned 80 she needed to quit for some surgery she needed. She just stopped, no problem.

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

I sucked my thumb until my early twenties.

It's nothing I'm proud of. The psychologist I saw in the 70s said I'd grow out of it. She said it had to do with losing my mother so young.

But it took longer than expected. Somehow I managed to hide it from my roommates in college. The ONE PERSON that called me on it was a 5 year-old girl I was babysitting for in Manhattan when I was around 24. I stayed over one night and she proclaimed, "You suck your thumb!"

She must be in college now.

I have no idea when it happened but I stopped.

::ready for the bashing::

[Devo37]

i stopped smoking bud abruptly after years of nearly every day use (but that was out of financial reasons). i need to get a job that pays more so i can start again.

i was also a nail-biter, which i stopped for no particular reason. the whole nail-clipper thing got too annoying to use, so now when my nails get long, i use my teeth like shears to trim them, but i'm not biting them out of a bad/nervous habit, so i'm fine with it.

[reformed]

I envy the folk who have quit their nail addiction. I tried to quit several times in my life but was never able to. I finally made peace with it, but my spouse nags me nonstop about it. She has tolerated my insanity, alcohalism, apathy and worse things to numerous to list, but when it comes to the nails, even after six years, she whacks me everytime they get near my mouth.

[Mike Teacher]

Its the only buzz I get anymore. The buzz of hunger and sobriety and quitting, the presences of absence.

Solved the nail biting problem in 1988 that was easy; relaxation.

In 2002 in one day I just goit sick of being a drunk fat fuck so I stopped drinking booze, and started a diet that lasted three years and ended with me losing 150 lbs.

six years later, I'm still hungry, still no booze, I havent had a steak in years, but I'm in my 40s and I'm in better shape then you.

Yes you.

[Death Metal Moe]

I envy the folk who have quit their nail addiction. I tried to quit several times in my life but was never able to. I finally made peace with it, but my spouse nags me nonstop about it. She has tolerated my insanity, alcohalism, apathy and worse things to numerous to list, but when it comes to the nails, even after six years, she whacks me everytime they get near my mouth.

I wish I had the one thing that I did or changed that made me stop but I just don't. I just stopped. I was always annoyed with the habit but I would always do it.

What was REALLY annoying is I would have to scrape under my nails before I did it because I didn't want all that shit that collects under there in my body. So before I even bit them I would take my pocket knife and clean them out, then put some saliva under them and scrape them again. (That trick gets another layer of shit you're not seeing)

It's so weird to have nails all the time now too. There used to be those 2-3 showers where I couldn't scratch my scalp properly because I had just bit my nails down to the very bottom. Now I can scratch a sticker off something all the time, can get a good back itch with my nails and now I can consistently apply shampoo to my scalp.

[WhistlePig]

Quit eating meat in 1992. Just stopped, and never looked back.

Quit doing coke (a weekend habit) in 2005. Just decided I was tired of doing it and stopped. It was hard for a few weeks, especially going out to the bar and seeing old contacts who'd give me that "you lookin'?" look and I'd have to shake my head no.

Still bite my cuticles--not my nails. I haven't thought about trying to quit but maybe I should...

[Heather 8]

Gave up smoking very abruptly about 12 years ago. I had smoked all throughout my teens, but one day decided "Ya know, this really is a stupid thing to be doing," and stopped. Being out of high school and away from other smokers helped a lot.

I just cannot stop with the nail biting. I'll let them grow fairly long, but if one breaks, then I justify having to bite the other ones down to match.

[Death Metal Moe]

Gave up smoking very abruptly about 12 years ago. I had smoked all throughout my teens, but one day decided "Ya know, this really is a stupid thing to be doing," and stopped. Being out of high school and away from other smokers helped a lot.

I just cannot stop with the nail biting. I'll let them grow fairly long, but if one breaks, then I justify having to bite the other ones down to match.

Heh, yea. I used to justify biting my nails like that too. "Hey, now I'm gonna have one broken nail and the rest are long? Fuck that, I'm biting them."

I used to try and stop too for like 2 weeks. I'd have these girl length nails.

[CofyCrakCocaine]

One day I just stopped smoking. Might've had something to do with the blood in the sink after hacking over it one night. Haven't shmoked since.

[Tall_James]

I quit smoking cold turkey when I started dating my wife. Early on, she told me that the cigarette smell reminded her of her ex-boyfriend.

In retrospect, it was a very effective method to get me to quit.

[sr71blackbird]

I quit drinking when I felt like I was developing an addiction, and have not gone back. I also quit tobacco the same way. My ability to stop doing stuff like that is just about the only think I pat myself on the back about.

[Jughead]

I have, for over 2 decades now, been a fingernail biter. I would let them get long and bite them off. It's just what I do and it's a horrible habit.

Back about a month ago, with no warning, I just stopped biting them. I stopped and they got longer and longer. I actually had to go buy fingernail clippers for the 1st time in as many years. I have just lost the want and need to bite my fingernails. I don't understand it but I'm glad I have stopped so far. My nails are about ready to cut again, and that NEVER happens.

Anyone else ever have this happen to them?

Moe just checked out your thread...I don't bite back real far back ..But I do kinda...I thought to myself after this last visit to the dentist....I could not if I wanted to..I had some real good front work done to my front clippers.... I thought people who have this problem should have just the slightest work done to there front teeth...You can't feel anything after they put in some kinda white fix it stuff......Congrats to you:clap:.In my job its very important ...It seems people look at your hand's a lot because of paperwork..God i pray I could get better at putting my thought's to type........ I suck so bad Im sorry everyone........Please:smile:

[landarch]

I am a nail biter too. Like others here have said, I don't bite them so much out of habit, but use my teeth to keep them trimmed when I notice they have acquired a bit of length.

I did recently stop smoking pot, though. The frequency in which I would indulge had me believing for some time that it would be very difficult to quit cold turkey. It hasn't been so hard, as I am using my future as motivation (better job, life insurance, better health).

[scottinnj]

I sucked my index finger up to the day I got my braces. I'm such a zero, I wasn't even a traditional "thumbsucker"

My parents did everything short of cutting the damn thing off. They wrapped it in guaze overnight, put it in a splint, put some sort of bad tasting liquid on it. Nothing worked until I got my braces on.