Category: Habits

Habits

Update On My Nail Biting Habit

by brettesblissLeave a Comment on Update On My Nail Biting Habit
Update On My Nail Biting Habit

Since I opened up about my Nail Biting Habit  in October, I decided the least I could do is update you on how I’m doing now that the new year has begun.

As a recap, I have been a nail biter for as long as I have had teeth. In August 2018, I decided I would try getting gel manicures as a last attempt to break the habit. I love gel manicures because the gel polish is just polish. It’s not an acrylic, its hardy, and if my nail snags or breaks, I can just trim and file it smooth. Continue reading “Update On My Nail Biting Habit” →

Habits, Simple Life Series

My Simple Skin Care Routine

by brettesbliss1 Comment on My Simple Skin Care Routine
My Simple Skin Care Routine

My skin care routine has evolved over the years from only using bar soap, to using bar soap and a moisturizer, using a facial cleanser and moisturizers, the 10 step korean skin care regimen, to now: using bar soap again but with a facial oil, a surum, and a moisturizer. My skin care routine has changed so much but I ultimately found that keeping it simple is what works best for me.

My Skin Care Routine Evolution

I didn’t get my first “real” zit until I was about 16 years old.  There are a few things I think contributed to this phenomena, but in the end its because it was about damn time for it to happen. When it happened, a friend asked me how I washed my face. I told her I only use bar soap. That was the wrong answer. Continue reading “My Simple Skin Care Routine” →

Habits

My Nail Biting Habit

by brettesbliss2 Comments on My Nail Biting Habit
My Nail Biting Habit

I have always struggled with nail biting. It’s a habit I have had for as long as I can remember. I have tried everything to stop the habit or to change my nail biting tendencies but was successful only once, but it didn’t last long.

I’m a cuticle picker, a hangnail ripper, and a nail biter. Its especially bad when I’m reading or watching tv. My nail biting habit is mindless, I do it without thinking about it and when I realize what I’ve done I have ten bloody nubs where my fingernails were.

I used to think it was a nervous habit or something to do with anxiety, but I’m not a nervous or anxious person any more, my stress levels are incredibly low, yet I’m still a nail biter.

The one thing that worked for me to stop my nail biting was to have pretty fingernails. When I was young, I had my first manicure and I wanted it to last forever so I was very careful with my nails and didn’t bite them, was gentle with my hands, and I didn’t bite my nails for a long time after that. I don’t know what happened after that to make me start my nail biting habit back up. Continue reading “My Nail Biting Habit” →

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week three

by brettesbliss5 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week three
Phone Addiction Update: Week three

Challenge: No using my phone while doing other things (eating, watching tv, writing)

Hours spent this week using my phone: 26 hours and 39 minutes or 12 hours and 57 minutes (subtracting maps and youTube since I technically wasn’t using my phone)

Most used apps: Maps and Youtube

How it went:

After the disaster that was last week, this week went a lot better. I didn’t use my phone for social media much while we were on our trip, I made a total of two posts before today and I wasn’t scrolling through Pinterest or Tumblr for hours a day. I didn’t do so well on not using my phone while eating because most of our days were planned during breakfast. We didn’t watch TV and most of my writing was done yesterday. I think this week was successful, mostly in part because I was on a road trip.

Since we were on a road trip this week, most of my phone usage is for YouTube (music) and maps. The data is a bit skewed this week.

How I’m feeling:

I’m feeling really good about this week. Really good. I plan to implement what I’ve been practicing in the last three weeks in the imminent future and work on the things I struggled with.

Concluding thoughts:

I hope to really kick this phone addiction to the curb because I really hate that I’m always one my phone. What really gets me now is how much I see other people using their phones because its so easy to see other people doing it and to want to do it yourself. I think in the end, the most difficult part of doing the challenge is seeing your friends and peers using their phones in front of you while you are consciously trying not to. I feel good about this whole experience. I’m ready to take what I’ve started and move forward with it. I’m excited to see what I can accomplish in the future!

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week two

by brettesbliss4 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week two
Phone Addiction Update: Week two

Challenge: phone ban between the 8 pm and 8 am.

Hours spent this week using my phone: 18 hours and 11 minutes

Most used apps: Pinterest, 6 hours, 35 minutes

How it went:

I was right, like I suspected in last week’s post, this week was very hard. I think I was too ambitious. Not using my phone after 8pm was the hardest part. I can manage not using my phone in the morning before 8am, that was simple and easy. I think for week three, I will change the ban to between 9:30pm and 8am. I wanted it to start two hours before bed and one before I had to be anywhere in the mornings. I generally go to bed around 10:30, so an hour is a good place to start and eventually I can work up to two hours. When classes start at the end of this month, I will have to adjust again too.

How I’m feeling:

I can confidently say I failed this part of the challenge. I know where it went wrong and I am ready to work on it.

Come back next Saturday for an update on week three: No using my phone while doing other things (eating, watching tv, writing).

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week one

by brettesbliss2 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week one
Phone Addiction Update: Week one

Challenge: My phone does not go to bed with me.

Hours spent this week using my phone: 19 hours 40 minutes

Most used app: Pinterest, 6 hours 2 minutes

How it went:

This is the first week of my phone addiction challenge and it was surprisingly easy to not take my phone to bed with me. I have a basket on my desk where I empty my bag into and I just set my phone in there before bed and don’t pull it out until I get out of bed in the morning.

I had all four of my wisdom teeth extracted Tuesday of this week and I had done great with not taking my phone to bed up until Thursday. I’m literally writing this portion of the update while in bed. I was under the impression that I would be feeling back to normal by Friday. Well its Friday night and I still feel like garbage and I’m struggling to not take my phone to bed for naps and bed time.

Update: Successfully put my phone in the basket before bed. Then got up and got it around 3 am because of a nightmare.

How I’m feeling:

Aside from the wisdom tooth removal, I feel really good about the beginning of my journey to beat my phone addiction. I think starting out simple and easy was a good plan and while it didn’t work out perfectly due to poor planning on my part (or an innate cruelty towards myself) I think I’m off to a solid start.

Regardless of it all, I spent fewer than 20 hours on my phone this week and I’m pretty happy with that.

Next week is going to be the hardest week I think.

Come back next Saturday for an update on week two: phone ban between the 8 pm and 8 am.

Habits

How To Read More Often

by brettesbliss8 Comments on How To Read More Often
How To Read More Often

I used to read a lot. I mean constantly. I grew up in a house without cell phone service and all the computers were in public areas. In order to spend quiet time alone, I had to read in my bedroom. I remember my mother banning me from reading when I was enthralled with the Inkheart series as a kid because I was foregoing household responsibilities to read. Now that I work and I am a student, I find it difficult to read for pleasure as often as I used to. I had to ask myself why I don’t read more? Why was it so hard for me to pick up a book and just read it? In my quest to read more books and to read more often, I came to a few realizations: I had become a book collector, not a reader; I was caught up in what I “Should be reading” and not what I wanted to read; and I was comparing what I was reading to what everyone else was reading. After reflecting on these three things, I learned a few things about how to read more books, and how to read more often. I have read more in the last few months than I had in years. 

Reading is a fantastic way to learn, increase your vocabulary, gain more perspectives, keep the mind young, and it’s downright relaxing and entertaining. I was caught up in how successful people take time to read and how many if not all good authors read a lot to learn more about writing. What I had forgotten was the nostalgic feelings I get when I curl up with a book to read with the intention to finish it in one or a few sittings. I used to love to read and I feel guilty for not reading more and reading more often. So why was I not reading more often? Especially if I loved it as much as I thought I did.

Why didn’t I read more?

I became a book collector, not a reader.

I had convinced myself at one point that future Brette had an extensive personal library at her disposal where she would collect all the books she had ever read and books she was going to read. After I started moving towards a minimalist lifestyle, I realized, in my already relatively large book collection, there were so many books I had yet to read and probably never would read. Future Brette had changed, yet I was still moving towards what I used to want, not what I want now. I was collecting books for the sake of having books. I was buying a new book or three every time I went to the thrift store and telling myself I “would read it one day.” I had a massive Amazon wish list for books and was purchasing books like crazy. The hard truth is that I was lying to myself. I was never going to read those “literary classics” that everyone is supposed to read but are actually god awful. But they littered my shelves. I had books that were completely out of my interests that I thought I would suddenly become the kind of person who enjoyed those books if I owned them. Continue reading “How To Read More Often” →