Online Test

Find out the severity of your symptoms with this free online test

Take the test
olivegreen , 12 Sep 2012

Today is my QUIT day!

Hello all. I'm pretty new here. I've created a plan to quit my picking and my quit day is today, September 12th. I've followed a "how to quit smoking" guide written by a minimalist/zen teacher and I believe it will work. I have a system of rewards, supports, and motivation typed out and ready. I have some plans for how to curb my urges, and I've been spending a lot of time leading up to this preparing myself and talking to myself about how wonderful this is going to be. I've tried to quit before many times with no success or short-term success only. I'm ready to be done with this. I'll be posting as I go, and would love to hear from any of you that have any tips or suggestions, or encouragement!!! Thanks :)
39 Answers
Add Comment
olivegreen
September 26, 2012
Happy two week anniversary to me! I'm happy to report that I've been managing this process well with exception of a few setbacks here and there. I am fortunate to have started quitting during a relatively low-stress time in my life (not pregnant, same old job, not arguing with my husband) and I'm hoping this trend continues. It's been 15 years of picking up to now, and I've never been this committed to quitting. I don't feel embarrassed about my scars, and actually showed some nicely healing ones to my husband the other day with pride. He was happy with my progress, too, which boosts my confidence. I'm ready to be done with this.
olivegreen
September 27, 2012
You know, I'm familiar with the concept of not saying something because you could jinx it. Perhaps I should have NOT posted yesterday at all! All of a sudden, we have someone interested in buying our house. We've been trying to sell for 2 months with not even a looker. So we frantically cleaned the house last night and my nerves were up. Anxiety is a big trigger for me and I had a hard time not picking. Sheesh. Oh well, I'm not feeling defeated. I'm back to working on quitting today. Has anyone heard the song "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson lately? I heard it yesterday and i think it's a really applicable song for all of us here! :)
Emmi
September 27, 2012
Congrats on the house situation :) And today is a new day to continue the progress you have been doing, Picking from anxiety is my down fall too, I can completely understand where your coming from, these little set backs are reminders of why we want to quit so badly. Keep up the good work :D
olivegreen
September 28, 2012
Thank you all for your encouraging comments!! :) I'm looking forward to a nice weekend with family, but weekends are tough for me because I really don't have time (with a 2 1/2 year old son) to get on this forum on the weekends. (I sneak some time at work...!) It may sound odd, but writing my thoughts on this forum is a huge support for me.
Emmi
October 01, 2012
The only time I can get on here is at work, Haha, Im glad this forum is helping :) And I hope your weekend with the family was lovely :) Good to hear your progress is going well to :) Keep it up Hun :)
olivegreen
October 03, 2012
Hey guys, I'm still here and quitting every day. The stress is getting to me. We now have 20 days to get our house ready for a home inspection. That means a lot of painting and wall repairs. It's stressful and I'm finding myself picking more frequently than before...but stress has always been a huge trigger for me. I have gotten my smooth rock out again and am carrying it around with me. It helps. haha, I guess I was hoping that after 3 weeks, I would be completely over it and done. BUT that appears to NOT be the case. I'll keep on keepin' on.
Emmi
October 04, 2012
Olivegreen, It will take longer then 3 weeks as this is somthing you have done for a long time, I think keeping your rock in your pocket is a good Idea, it means it is always there when you need it, Just remember, You have so much to do to prepare your house, you dont have time to pick :) Your doing GREAT! keep up the GREAT work :)
twiggy
October 05, 2012
Olivegreen, The Rock is a great idea. When I quit smoking I didn't know what to do in the car. The motion of hand to mouth..i felt lost. An oral fixation. I started twirling the ring on my ring to preoccupy my hand and chew gum for my mouth. It's crazy how mindless forms of habit do have a huge impact on our behavior. And we don't even realize we are giving into the habits at first because they've become second nature. The worst thing we can do is give up. You're doing great and you'll overcome this.
olivegreen
October 08, 2012
Thanks! What's funny is I actually lost my rock somewhere. I think it might show up in the washing machine! I have no idea where it has gone. :( xoxo
olivegreen
October 08, 2012
Well, it's been tough lately. I'm sore and stressed from getting our house ready to sell. AND, to top it off, when our house sells, we'll be homeless. We have to find a place to buy or rent in about one month. Yikes. That's exciting and terrifying for me. And I lost my rock. I feel like I'm mentally too busy to continue to try to quit as hard as I did when I started. I know that's probably a huge excuse. In any regard, here I am.
olivegreen
October 10, 2012
Hi all. I'm in better spirits now than I was in my last post. It looks like we've found a place to move to, a wonderful place that I'm very excited to own. But, we'll be closing on our house in November and that means we have to move by then. I can't say I'm prepared for this much work! I had a bit of a breakdown yesterday about all of it, where I thought to myself, "why not go back to picking and try to quit again after we move?" I will never condemn a smoker or alcoholic who fails to quit ever again. I do understand the difficulty of it, now. (To some degree, of course.)

Start your journey with SkinPick

Take control of your life and find freedom from skin picking through professional therapy and evidence-based behavioral techniques.

Start Now