Remember We Are Okay: Don't forget who you are.

I am a 22 year old college student. I have anxiety disorder, a bit of depression, acid reflux disease and yes...I too am a picker. I take medication to help with the anxiety/depression, and a pill to also help with the acid reflux. Aside from the pill helping to control the anxiety..nothing will truly stop me from picking. As I hope you have all read or at some point discovered...there are reasons why we pick. We would like to stop no matter how much we try. Sometimes I make goals to help myself stop picking. When one finger starts healing I try not to bite or pick at it specifically. It has gotten much better before and can sometimes stay that way for a period of time. But then the next thing you know I didn't even realize I had mangled all my fingers already after a long stressful class lecture or I pulled an all nighter, or I watched a movie, or had an intense conversation I didn't want to have with someone etc. And after all the progress, I feel like I've completely failed again. It seems as though I will NEVER get out of this rut. I'm addicted and it will never stop. I know you have all been there too. You might even be much worse off in this habit than I am. But as someone else who knows what you're going through, I just want to say..you are okay. There might be people who don't have to worry about this problem and you wish you were them. But don't forget, there is always someone else who is worse off even in this habit than you are. And you're not crazy or a freak. You have a habit. But so does everyone. For a lot of people their habit may not be biting or picking their fingers to death, but something else much worse. We are okay. No matter how down and freaked out you feel about this habit, you are alright. It's just a habit. Try not to focus on it and how it "makes you who you are" because it doesn't...focus on who you are, because this DOES NOT DEFINE YOU. I hope this helps.