This Week's Sunday Challenge is a Real Nail-Biter!

I think we can all agree, this isn't my best look...

A couple of weeks ago, when I blogged about my lousy lungs, I mentioned a habit of mine that I've struggled to break.  In the words of the song: "uh-oh, it's biting my nails."

Yes, I am a seasoned nail-biter.  I'm practically a pro.  I don't know why I find the habit so irresistible either, because I genuinely hate the appearance of the chewed-down stumps that currently pass for fingernails at the end of each one of my stumpy digits.

When I was about eleven years old, my Nan made me a promise.  I was always admiring her lovely nails and the peachy-pink nail polish she used to paint them with.  She told me that if I could stop biting my nails, she'd buy me my own bottle, so that I could paint my nails just like hers.  I was absolutely determined to get my hands on a bottle of that lovely varnish, so I did everything I could think of.  

I tried buying some Stop'n'Grow nail biting solution.  But I just became accustomed to the foul taste of it and carried on biting.

I tried reminding myself of how gross nail biting actually is.  I mean, think of all that trapped dirt I'm probably ingesting!  I have a little bit of OCD about germs, so you'd think that knowing what might be lurking beneath my nails would put me well and truly off, but for some reason... Nope.

I even tried sitting on my hands when I was bored and most prone to nail-nibbling.  But it was just uncomfortable and after a while, I'd change position and next thing you know, I was gnawing away...

Eventually, when my Nan sadly died less than a year later, I decided to buy my own pretty nail varnishes, in the hope that if I painted my stubby little nails, I'd be less likely to bite them.  To be honest, that's still the method that works best for me.  But I couldn't wear nail varnish to school, plus I was being horribly bullied there, so I was stressed out of my tiny mind and... Yep, I chewed away on my nails to relieve some of that tension.

Now, as an adult, I work at a place where we're not allowed to wear nail varnish (aside from the clear stuff, which I've run out of and can't afford to buy more this side of Christmas), so I have the same problem.  I'm fine at the weekends, when my nails can be plastered with various glittery varnishes, but come Monday, the temptation to nibble is ridiculous.

So this week's Sunday Challenge isn't one I can sum up at the end of this blog and let you know how I got on.  It's more of a work-in-progress.  But I am going to try very, very hard to quit my incessant nail-gnawing.  It looks ugly as sin and it's pretty vile in general.  And I really, really don't want my nails to look like this anymore:

Because... Yuck.

So if anyone has any handy hints (pun absolutely intended) that could help me in this quest, please do share them with me!  Next Sunday, I'll be catching up with my girlies and I may well write a bit of a Christmassy blog in the absence of a challenge (unless eating as much as I can at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet is something I fancy writing about...), but I'll be keeping you updated as to how my talons are progressing.  Because my nail-growth is just that fascinating.

Wish me luck...