I'm sure many people suffer from the same habit I do, but I'm not sure that many go as far as I do with it.

I can make a rough guess that 90% of people have done it at some point in their lives. Consciously or not is irrelevant.

I have suffered with this ailment for as long as I can remember. And it has to stop.

So, now I have a target in mind, and I'm doing it for a just cause: 25 whole points.

Join me in my quest to stop biting my nails.

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Day One: 28th January 2008, 17:11

Why do people bite their nails? Scientists say it could be from hunger, boredom, anxiety, or it's just a general habit. I think mine stems from all four. How and why I started, I haven't the faintest idea. After my mum and dad split up (when I was about... 3 or 4), I could have started then - but I don't think I really understood the magnitude of the situation. Hunger? Well, I was rounder back then, I could have done it out of hunger, I suppose. Anxiety... I was bullied quite a bit back then, so I guess that could be a contributing factor, but nowadays, it's just force of habit.

I would go far enough to say that my habit has turned into an addiction.

It's been one of the banes of my life. That I can safely say.

So, I begin by stating my aim:

I am going to stop biting my fingernails, as well as the skin surrounding each nail, because it looks revolting and is a nasty, unhygienic habit that can cause disease, and should be ceased as soon as possible.

Let's go then. See you on the other side.

Here are my nails now. Horrid, jagged husks of "nail" sit pointlessly on each finger.

I want them to be strong and healthy - so much so, that I can use them for tasks that I would usually use my teeth for.

I should add that this is not the first time I've tried to give this up. But this is the last time.

It's now 19:39, 2 hours 28 minutes since I started this - no cravings yet, but I think this is because they're too short to chew currently - my body knows when they're long enough. It can feel it.

Oboe lesson now, so I won't be chewing them for the next 45 minutes. I'm scared, you see, because I do it subconsciously; it's really worrying. I rest my eyes for a second and my fingers gradually drift up toward my mouth and bang. It's all over. Start again! Fortunately, this has not happened yet.

20:56 - subconsciously bit a bit of skin from my left index finger. This is not going to be easy.

Day Two: 29th January 2008, 16:04

Bollocks! I just inadvertently bit a very small piece of skin from my left middle finger, but I stopped myself before it came completely off.

Day Three: 30th January 2008

I'm actually too busy today to bite my nails at all, gigging and whatnot. Report more tomorrow.

Day Four: 31st January 2008

It's becoming harder and harder to resist the temptation to bite my nails. My body is literally telling me how "appetizing" they look, and is reacting otherwise, by not growing them at all.

Day Five: 1st February 2008

Happy February. Today was okay, some of the white marks underneath my nails are already going, and my ring fingers' nails are growing faster than the rest.

Days Six, Seven and Eight passed by uneventfully. I think I've finally kicked it.

There is one side effect I have noticed from all this though - I tend to be hungrier, and more often. Whether this is a side-effect of not biting my nails, I do not know, but I've also had more craving for fruit (something I wouldn't usually really want to eat, I would just do so to be healthy). Maybe it's psychosomatic.

Day Nineteen: 15th February 2008

Well, since my last update, I've managed to break my resolution on my little fingers, but they've grown back.

I've never actually known nails this long before - I managed to open my phone's charging cover without the aid of a flat/sharp object! But how does one get the dirt out from underneath them? The dirt that literally just appears out of seemingly nowhere.

I have yet to bite my index fingers in the entire time I've stopped, but they are not growing anywhere near as fast as I'd have hoped.

Conclusions

I think I have kicked the addiction that has plagued me all this time, and I did it on willpower and 25-point motivation alone. It's been a journey and a half, and maybe this will have positive repercussions elsewhere; perhaps I'll become more confident in social situations, as I used nail biting as a sort of security device. When I was doing it, I felt comfortable and secure. Perhaps now I'll move out from that dark cloud. Perhaps this will all come back to haunt me one day; who knows?

I know one thing for sure. I'm happy now.