Last week I put my "monthly plan" into action and it's been fairly successful. I think having a monthly goal just seems less intimidating then "i'll never do ______ again". So much of managing trich and changing habits is the mental aspect.
I'm not going to lie, I am tired and cranky this week. It's one of those days where I really probably shouldn't be allowed to be in the same room as other people. It's probably a combination of no-smoking, being tired, the crappy/rainy weather, and just general life stress.
This is my official update: I havent smoked since last week, haven't pulled any hair since Saturday night (literally nothing which is great), I've exercised every single day, even when I've been exhausted, and I'm sleeping a lot better. All in all, not a bad week although it has been a very, very hard week of adjustments.
So now that it's been a week, I'm going for 2 weeks. There are plenty of stressors in my life right now, the boy situation (which has improved with "awkward guy" but there is still the issue of dating 2 people- a decision must be made soon), figuring out whether I should cut business ties with my friend who I was going to start the firm with, money issues as always, blah blah blah. It never ends. I wish I was one of those people that could accept that life will never be fully "stress free" but I'm just not. So I'm trying to figure out how to manage my trich and everything else in the face of stress.
I was on the Trich yahoo support group and emailing with another girl when I thought about my issues with control and symmetry (and I still havent changed my "display name" to my actual name which is kind of sad). Just the other day, on Saturday, when I was having a bad pulling spell I realized that despite knowing I needed to stop, I had to keep pulling to make sure that both eyebrows were "even". It didnt matter that it meant more pulling and less hair one one side but everything had to be kind of the same. It was unacceptable in my mind to leave stray hairs out of place if they didnt look "symmetrical" and each eyebrow was in the right shape. I dont know if that makes sense but hopefully you understand what I mean.
Anyway, a lot of trich for me seems to be about control and release. I need to be able to control what I pull and as screwed up as it is, the hairs need to be pulled in a certain way. If I leave a hair 'out of place' I know that I wont be able to stop. The anxiety of thinking and obsessing over that hair will literally cause my entire body to tense up and I wont be able to think of anything else.
Well I guess this turned out to be a little bit of a random post (but arent they all kind of?) so thanks for reading and if you have any tips on how to stop or control the urges, please let me know, I need as many new ideas as possible. Thanks!
Showing posts with label Monthly plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monthly plan. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Small changes, big difference? Goals for the next month.
Maybe I'm trying to be overly ambitious but I figured now was as good of a time as any to just try to make some small changes but when added together will hopefully make a big difference. In one month and one day I turn 30. I'm not too worried about it (although I wish people would stop asking me if i ever want to get married and/or have children- I don't know yet!!) but there are certainly things I would love to be doing better or differently.
Anyway, between the troubles I've had with trich this month and the reading I've been doing lately (including the Happiness Project- http://www.happiness-project.com/) I've decided there are several things I'd like to tackle and maybe trying to achieve several goals each month will help my make some progress as I will be influenced by the positive results. Then, the following month, I will add more goals and hope to just build on the progress I've already made.
Month 1 for me will have several pretty important goals.
1. Get more sleep --> this isn't as simple as it sounds. The information I've read lately has indicated not just that you aim for a solid 7 hours of straight sleep but talks about eliminating all light from your bedroom. I've noticed that when I shut off the TV, cover up all the cable box lights and alarm clock light, I really get a much better nights sleep.
2. Quit smoking--> Ahh, the time has come. Obviously I dont need to go into the reasons I should quit but this is the first time I've really WANTED to quit so badly (and the reasons are endless). So, last night I smoked my last cigarette and now it's up to me to remember all the reasons I want and need to quit. Right now I'm setting the goal at 1 week- I just want to make it one week (kind of like trich).
3. Exercise more--> since I'm not smoking and hopefully gaining energy by sleeping better, I have picked up a new workout routine. I find that when I exercise more often I am less likely to pull. Today my friend gave me his copy of P90X and this weekend I will be starting the program. Everyone I know that has even made it halfway through the DVD's swears by the program. http://www.p90xdvdshop.us/main.html . I'm hoping that seeing fairly quick results, and needing the non-smokers lung to keep it up, will help me stay motivated.
4. Stick to my nighttime facial regiment--> This also will tie into my fifth goal but a while ago I posted about how thoroughly washing my face in kind of a long, drawn out routine, was helping my trich since I didnt want to touch my face as much when my skin was clean. My skin was also looking fantastic. But, as usual, I kind of got lazy and stopped doing it as much. Enough laziness. Let's face it, I'm not getting younger and a strict routine can have nothing but positive results.
5. Stop pulling for one month--> I've done it before, I can do it again. This is my fifth and final goal for the month. I realize these are all fairly sizable goals but I'm really hoping that they have the effect of helping each other out. I often tend to pull when I'm smoking or not exercising so it is kind of related.
I thought having the initial months end goal as my 30th bday would also be a bit of a motivator since all these changes would have a big impact on my overall health, appearance and general happiness. It's certainly worth a shot.....
Anyway, between the troubles I've had with trich this month and the reading I've been doing lately (including the Happiness Project- http://www.happiness-project.com/) I've decided there are several things I'd like to tackle and maybe trying to achieve several goals each month will help my make some progress as I will be influenced by the positive results. Then, the following month, I will add more goals and hope to just build on the progress I've already made.
Month 1 for me will have several pretty important goals.
1. Get more sleep --> this isn't as simple as it sounds. The information I've read lately has indicated not just that you aim for a solid 7 hours of straight sleep but talks about eliminating all light from your bedroom. I've noticed that when I shut off the TV, cover up all the cable box lights and alarm clock light, I really get a much better nights sleep.
2. Quit smoking--> Ahh, the time has come. Obviously I dont need to go into the reasons I should quit but this is the first time I've really WANTED to quit so badly (and the reasons are endless). So, last night I smoked my last cigarette and now it's up to me to remember all the reasons I want and need to quit. Right now I'm setting the goal at 1 week- I just want to make it one week (kind of like trich).
3. Exercise more--> since I'm not smoking and hopefully gaining energy by sleeping better, I have picked up a new workout routine. I find that when I exercise more often I am less likely to pull. Today my friend gave me his copy of P90X and this weekend I will be starting the program. Everyone I know that has even made it halfway through the DVD's swears by the program. http://www.p90xdvdshop.us/main.html . I'm hoping that seeing fairly quick results, and needing the non-smokers lung to keep it up, will help me stay motivated.
4. Stick to my nighttime facial regiment--> This also will tie into my fifth goal but a while ago I posted about how thoroughly washing my face in kind of a long, drawn out routine, was helping my trich since I didnt want to touch my face as much when my skin was clean. My skin was also looking fantastic. But, as usual, I kind of got lazy and stopped doing it as much. Enough laziness. Let's face it, I'm not getting younger and a strict routine can have nothing but positive results.
5. Stop pulling for one month--> I've done it before, I can do it again. This is my fifth and final goal for the month. I realize these are all fairly sizable goals but I'm really hoping that they have the effect of helping each other out. I often tend to pull when I'm smoking or not exercising so it is kind of related.
I thought having the initial months end goal as my 30th bday would also be a bit of a motivator since all these changes would have a big impact on my overall health, appearance and general happiness. It's certainly worth a shot.....
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