I'm still trying to resist the temptation to pick and somehow managing to stop myself...although if I keep looking in the mirror to check on the progress of the 2-in-1 comedone I'm going to end up messing with it. I don't understand why I feel the need to keep looking in the mirror though, it's like putting cake in front of someone on a diet! and yet I just stopped typing to look in my compact - what's wrong with me!!!
One thing that worked last night though was firmly clamping my hands together behind my back whilst I was examining my face in the mirror...it may be a temporary measure so I'll use it if I randomly start wanting to pick, but when I've got some comedones that have been there a while and show no signs of leaving I need a better method. I definitely need to re-wire my brain, I keep coming up with logical excuses for picking i.e. if I pick it now it will be gone before a certain social event, if I do it now it won't get big/ painful at a later date. Whilst they are quite reasonable, it's like my brain has selective memory loss because I basically block out the counter-arguments such as picking it will almost guarentee making it worse (1% success rate is not very promising) and if it does get big/ painful at a later date it's always easy/ ready to be picked and leaves a tiny unnoticeable scab. I feel like I need a magical mirror that will start talking and remind me of all the reasons why picking is bad!
On the plus side, I have abstained so far and it felt really good last night when I was in the bathroom and my boyfriend knocked on the door to check I wasn't picking and I could actually tell him that I wasn't! Even though I'm worried when I wake up in the morning that the comedone has become inflamed overnight, isn't it better to worry about that instead of having to get up early (to apply concealer), assess the previous night's damage and then spending the next 3/4 days waiting for it to heal?! I know the answer is yes, so why can't I remember that every time I go to pick?
So I'm going to use a no-picking method that I haven't tried before, I've put an elastic band on my wrist and I'm going to ping myself every time I feel the need to look in the mirror and I'm going to ping it even harder when I feel the urge to pick...I already have a few little red lines on my wrist but strangely it is working - it's effectively punishing me for having picking-related thoughts as well as replacing the habit of constantly checking my skin...so far so good but I'll stick to it over the weekend and see how effective it is.
If it doesn't work I may have to seriously consider investing in a talking mirror!
One thing that worked last night though was firmly clamping my hands together behind my back whilst I was examining my face in the mirror...it may be a temporary measure so I'll use it if I randomly start wanting to pick, but when I've got some comedones that have been there a while and show no signs of leaving I need a better method. I definitely need to re-wire my brain, I keep coming up with logical excuses for picking i.e. if I pick it now it will be gone before a certain social event, if I do it now it won't get big/ painful at a later date. Whilst they are quite reasonable, it's like my brain has selective memory loss because I basically block out the counter-arguments such as picking it will almost guarentee making it worse (1% success rate is not very promising) and if it does get big/ painful at a later date it's always easy/ ready to be picked and leaves a tiny unnoticeable scab. I feel like I need a magical mirror that will start talking and remind me of all the reasons why picking is bad!
On the plus side, I have abstained so far and it felt really good last night when I was in the bathroom and my boyfriend knocked on the door to check I wasn't picking and I could actually tell him that I wasn't! Even though I'm worried when I wake up in the morning that the comedone has become inflamed overnight, isn't it better to worry about that instead of having to get up early (to apply concealer), assess the previous night's damage and then spending the next 3/4 days waiting for it to heal?! I know the answer is yes, so why can't I remember that every time I go to pick?
So I'm going to use a no-picking method that I haven't tried before, I've put an elastic band on my wrist and I'm going to ping myself every time I feel the need to look in the mirror and I'm going to ping it even harder when I feel the urge to pick...I already have a few little red lines on my wrist but strangely it is working - it's effectively punishing me for having picking-related thoughts as well as replacing the habit of constantly checking my skin...so far so good but I'll stick to it over the weekend and see how effective it is.
If it doesn't work I may have to seriously consider investing in a talking mirror!