SELF IMPROVEMENT

My dreaded obsession of ‘Nail-Biting’

How it feels when you quit an addiction

I was then in my first grade. There was a strict rule in my school that nails should be trimmed and maintained properly. After a two-month long gap of summer holidays, our school has reopened. We were waiting for the bus to come. I saw my brother biting his nails short with his front teeth. I got to remember that strict rule. I flattered him for that idea and I too bit my nails with my teeth, and that day went fine.

Till then I didn’t even have an idea I could cut-short my nails without the need of a nail-cutter! That feeling when I bite my nails was psychologically making me happy too. I already was a shy nerdy dweeb those days and this habit gave me a sense of stress-busting whenever I felt discomfiture.

Slowly it became a habit and then an obsession. I wasn’t trying to overcome my shyness, instead, I was biting my nails whenever a situation out of my comfort zone came. I was fixated to nail-biting.

My nails started becoming ugly, in fact, very ugly. There come sharp stubbles at the ends after I bit my nails. As a toddler, who wants nothing but fun, I never minded what elders told me about my nails. I just wanted the good feeling by biting them constantly. Even when they grow a little longer, my obsession tantalised me to bite it to zero again.

When the nails were too short to bite, I somehow managed to bite them still…