A while back I was sitting with my husband watching tv and I had a sudden thought.
"Hey...have you ever eaten a turnip before?"
"....no..?"
"Me neither. What does it even look like?"
Silence.
So began my fixation on cooking and eating a turnip. I ventured to the grocery store, searching desperately for a turnip which was made even harder by the fact that I hadn't a clue what it looked like. I did, however, find a rutabaga. It looked very unappetizing. Then when I took a closer look, I noticed that beside the rutabaga label, it said 'turnip' in brackets! I'd found my turnip! I was so excited that it didn't matter how disgusting it looked. I was going to bring that baby home and cook it!
Then I ran into the next issue: how do you cook a rutabaga? It didn't look like you could eat the skin. But it looked like it would be a challenge to peel. I found a nice little How To on the internet and away I went peeling the vegetable. But then when it came time to cut it, I found that my lack of strength and measly little blunt knife literally just didn't cut it. I had to enlist the help of my husband.
After much huffing and puffing, we finally have little bits of rutabaga. I plopped the pieces into a large pot of boiling water and waited. There was a lot of rutabaga. The pot was practically overflowing with rutabaga. Rutabaga! Very fun to say, less fun to deal with. Now I understand why that word is chosen as a replacement swear word when people are feeling silly.
Anyways, I seasoned it with lots of butter, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar. You know, all the stuff that makes butternut squash incredible. Then came the moment of truth. The moment we'd all been waiting for.
We sat there in silence, just chewing. There were a lot of awkward comments like, "Is there enough butter?" and "It's like potatoes, but very, very different."
Finally we broke down. It was not worth the charade. It was awful. Rutabaga looks gross, smells sickening and tastes like brussel sprouts. Then I glanced over at the pot on the stove. It was FULL of rutabaga. I have a great amount of difficulty with throwing food away. I get angry when the cheese isn't covered well enough and so it gets all stiff and dry. But ya know what? I still eat it! But this...I just couldn't get around it. I was going to have to throw it away.
I tried to pretend like I wasn't going to do it by putting it in a tupperware container and leaving it in the fridge for a while. But after a few days, I couldn't fool myself. No one in their right minds would ever eat that rutabaga. I had to throw it out.
And so ends my rutabaga saga. Rutabaga Saga. How could something sound so delightful but taste so indigestible? May I never again get the urge to try something new.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
A Warning
Today I read an article about a study that supposedly had discovered that people think that apologies are more valuable than they actually are. This leads to a disappointment upon being given an apology, supposedly.
Now let's examine this a wee bit closer, shall we? The scenario that participants of the study were presented with was as follows. In a lab room, likely a confined space in a basement on some campus, people were given 10 euros which they could either give to some undefined 'partner' (likely no one) or keep for themselves. If they gave their money to their 'partner', their partner got triple the amount you gave, 30 euros, and then in turn gave you 5 under the pretense that they could choose however much to give back to you as they pleased. The study had two groups. One group of participants were given an apology and the other group of participants were asked to imagine they'd been given an apology.
Maybe it's just me, but...this scenario seems flawed. First off, there's no mention of what proportion just kept the money which leads to an entirely different sort of conclusion. Second, when in your life will you ever experience something like this? There are no established social rules that dictate proper behaviour. Is an apology really even necessary? Do these participants care if their 'partner' apologizes for being greedy in the face of a complete stranger? And third, there is absolutely no description of the apology. Maybe it was a bad apology and the ones people imagined were more appropriate.
Now, it's possible that the actual journal article is much better and more complete. However, how many people will read the journal article? Very few. What's interesting is that the public/patient rating of the article is much higher than the ratings given by professionals. This leads me to believe that only the people who are trained to look for inadequacies in reporting (via secondary school) actually ask these sorts of questions. A lot of people sort of skip through the sections on how the study was done and just read the conclusion. This bugs me. After having met and conversed with university and graduate students as well as professors, I've come to the realization that researchers are every bit as capable of making mistakes as your neighbours. (I'd say ourselves, but many people like to believe they're perfect.) And sometimes, they are motivated to fudge the data a little, or not think through the experiment well enough due to time and publishing pressures.
This is why we get conflicting messages from science. This is why we need to actually think about what we're reading and hearing. There was once a time when I worked on a project comparing newspaper articles to the journal articles they refer to. I was a bit surprised to see how misrepresented the study was, but then I was completely shocked and enraged when the same study was talked about on an episode of The Doctors where it was abundantly clear that they'd never read the original article, and maybe not even the newspaper article. The message that was conveyed to viewers on tv was almost opposite to what was found in the study! And yet that's what people are listening to.
It's scary coming across things like that, but I'm sure it happens far more frequently than we realize. So please, think about things. If you don't have time to think about the things you hear, don't act on them! Be accountable for your actions, because apparently if you rely on others to be accountable, their apologies are going to be disappointing.
Click here to read the article to which I am referring.
Now let's examine this a wee bit closer, shall we? The scenario that participants of the study were presented with was as follows. In a lab room, likely a confined space in a basement on some campus, people were given 10 euros which they could either give to some undefined 'partner' (likely no one) or keep for themselves. If they gave their money to their 'partner', their partner got triple the amount you gave, 30 euros, and then in turn gave you 5 under the pretense that they could choose however much to give back to you as they pleased. The study had two groups. One group of participants were given an apology and the other group of participants were asked to imagine they'd been given an apology.
Maybe it's just me, but...this scenario seems flawed. First off, there's no mention of what proportion just kept the money which leads to an entirely different sort of conclusion. Second, when in your life will you ever experience something like this? There are no established social rules that dictate proper behaviour. Is an apology really even necessary? Do these participants care if their 'partner' apologizes for being greedy in the face of a complete stranger? And third, there is absolutely no description of the apology. Maybe it was a bad apology and the ones people imagined were more appropriate.
Now, it's possible that the actual journal article is much better and more complete. However, how many people will read the journal article? Very few. What's interesting is that the public/patient rating of the article is much higher than the ratings given by professionals. This leads me to believe that only the people who are trained to look for inadequacies in reporting (via secondary school) actually ask these sorts of questions. A lot of people sort of skip through the sections on how the study was done and just read the conclusion. This bugs me. After having met and conversed with university and graduate students as well as professors, I've come to the realization that researchers are every bit as capable of making mistakes as your neighbours. (I'd say ourselves, but many people like to believe they're perfect.) And sometimes, they are motivated to fudge the data a little, or not think through the experiment well enough due to time and publishing pressures.
This is why we get conflicting messages from science. This is why we need to actually think about what we're reading and hearing. There was once a time when I worked on a project comparing newspaper articles to the journal articles they refer to. I was a bit surprised to see how misrepresented the study was, but then I was completely shocked and enraged when the same study was talked about on an episode of The Doctors where it was abundantly clear that they'd never read the original article, and maybe not even the newspaper article. The message that was conveyed to viewers on tv was almost opposite to what was found in the study! And yet that's what people are listening to.
It's scary coming across things like that, but I'm sure it happens far more frequently than we realize. So please, think about things. If you don't have time to think about the things you hear, don't act on them! Be accountable for your actions, because apparently if you rely on others to be accountable, their apologies are going to be disappointing.
Click here to read the article to which I am referring.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I've come to the light
As I mentioned in an earlier post about getting a free TV, I have been trying to create a home office for about a week now. Every day I'd been circulating through the thrift stores in the area and frequenting Kijiji searching for the pivotal part of the office: a desk. It seemed as though before now all I ever saw were desks. Then suddenly, once I want one, they all go into hiding.
But then, after days upon days of searching, I happened upon a $10 desk at the Thrift Store. It was small, which was a plus due to our lack of space in our apartment and in our car, and fairly blasé (after a couple alt combinations, I was very proud of myself for being able to find é!) which was less appealing. But still, $10...not bad. It came with some ratty shelves that weren't actually attached and were very flimsy, so I didn't bother taking those.
The Thrift Store called later, reminding me that I'd left them there and urging me to come back and get them.
But anyways, that was yesterday, and today I was able to wake up, do my morning routine and sit down to do some at-home work. MY GOODNESS, my life is now waaaaay better. No longer must I awkwardly position a textbook and notebook on my lap, causing my already untidy scrawl to become completely illegible. I was able to check my email on my laptop, and leave it open (the university mail server refreshes every minute or so, thus leaving it open allows me to get emails as they come) on the corner of the desk, while reading my textbook ON A FLAT SURFACE. Then I could put my textbook in the slide-out drawer (one of those keyboard slidey things, but I require no keyboard, so it's an open concept drawer now), take out the transcript I'm working with for my thesis and start writing. Meanwhile, because I'm at home, I was able to drink my coffee, fixed how I like it, in my own mug, and get more when I ran out without paying another $2.
I didn't have to waste 45 minutes commuting to campus, and then 45 minutes coming back. When I got hungry, I could walk 2 feet to the kitchen and cook myself some healthy, fresh, warm food! After a few hours of working, I was able to move 3 feet to the other side of me and practice keyboard for a while. After just one day, I'm pretty well convinced that I'm destined to work from home. It's just so wonderful! I can work on my own terms, take breaks when needbe and actually do something I enjoy on those breaks.
As an added plus, I received an email from the university warning us to limit contact with other people for the next little while because there's an outbreak of influenza A. Don't worry, I won't be leaving my apartment for days at least.
So, for all of you out there who are lucky enough to have a job you can do at home: How did you find this magical job? Where I can I get one?
But then, after days upon days of searching, I happened upon a $10 desk at the Thrift Store. It was small, which was a plus due to our lack of space in our apartment and in our car, and fairly blasé (after a couple alt combinations, I was very proud of myself for being able to find é!) which was less appealing. But still, $10...not bad. It came with some ratty shelves that weren't actually attached and were very flimsy, so I didn't bother taking those.
The Thrift Store called later, reminding me that I'd left them there and urging me to come back and get them.
But anyways, that was yesterday, and today I was able to wake up, do my morning routine and sit down to do some at-home work. MY GOODNESS, my life is now waaaaay better. No longer must I awkwardly position a textbook and notebook on my lap, causing my already untidy scrawl to become completely illegible. I was able to check my email on my laptop, and leave it open (the university mail server refreshes every minute or so, thus leaving it open allows me to get emails as they come) on the corner of the desk, while reading my textbook ON A FLAT SURFACE. Then I could put my textbook in the slide-out drawer (one of those keyboard slidey things, but I require no keyboard, so it's an open concept drawer now), take out the transcript I'm working with for my thesis and start writing. Meanwhile, because I'm at home, I was able to drink my coffee, fixed how I like it, in my own mug, and get more when I ran out without paying another $2.
I didn't have to waste 45 minutes commuting to campus, and then 45 minutes coming back. When I got hungry, I could walk 2 feet to the kitchen and cook myself some healthy, fresh, warm food! After a few hours of working, I was able to move 3 feet to the other side of me and practice keyboard for a while. After just one day, I'm pretty well convinced that I'm destined to work from home. It's just so wonderful! I can work on my own terms, take breaks when needbe and actually do something I enjoy on those breaks.
As an added plus, I received an email from the university warning us to limit contact with other people for the next little while because there's an outbreak of influenza A. Don't worry, I won't be leaving my apartment for days at least.
So, for all of you out there who are lucky enough to have a job you can do at home: How did you find this magical job? Where I can I get one?
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Ravel thinks I'm cool
I am a volunteer on campus for a peer counseling group and today we had our monthly training session. The organization is structured into teams. All the volunteers are broken down into several small teams which meet weekly and then the leaders of each team form their own team that also meets weekly and then once a month we all meet together for trainings. Therefore, volunteers who aren't in your team are only ever seen once a month and at those monthly meetings, very little interaction is involved.
As additional background info, I'm fairly social-phobic and find it quite difficult to go up and talk to people. At one of the breaks in the training, I went to go get a coffee and was standing there fixing my coffee while a fellow volunteer did the same. The employees at the Tim Horton's had a radio player which happened to be playing the classical song 'Bolero'. I decided that could be my excuse to start a conversation, so I said 'It's been a while since I heard this song *pause*....Bolero.' The volunteer looked at me a little shocked, politely smiling and tried to listen. She didn't know the song. I'd assumed it was one of those classical songs that everyone comes across in elementary music class but apparently not so.
I tried to recover and explain that I'm not like a classical music aficionado or anything. So I said that I'd seen it played in concert at the NAC. I was in music class. It's a good piece. Very famous. You can't dance to it but it's pretty good.
The more I said, the worse things got until I noticed that she had already started walking away from me and started talking to other people, occasionally turning back if I said something she felt obligated to respond to.
At one time I would have been reduced to tears and sent into a downward spiral of self-hatred and depression. And the spiral did begin. However, during the next break, I decided to turn it into an amusing anecdote to tell to a completely different volunteer. Somehow discussing a time when you behaved very awkwardly leaves people gutting themselves laughing where the actual incident will leave people confused and uneasy.
Funny how that works.
As additional background info, I'm fairly social-phobic and find it quite difficult to go up and talk to people. At one of the breaks in the training, I went to go get a coffee and was standing there fixing my coffee while a fellow volunteer did the same. The employees at the Tim Horton's had a radio player which happened to be playing the classical song 'Bolero'. I decided that could be my excuse to start a conversation, so I said 'It's been a while since I heard this song *pause*....Bolero.' The volunteer looked at me a little shocked, politely smiling and tried to listen. She didn't know the song. I'd assumed it was one of those classical songs that everyone comes across in elementary music class but apparently not so.
I tried to recover and explain that I'm not like a classical music aficionado or anything. So I said that I'd seen it played in concert at the NAC. I was in music class. It's a good piece. Very famous. You can't dance to it but it's pretty good.
The more I said, the worse things got until I noticed that she had already started walking away from me and started talking to other people, occasionally turning back if I said something she felt obligated to respond to.
At one time I would have been reduced to tears and sent into a downward spiral of self-hatred and depression. And the spiral did begin. However, during the next break, I decided to turn it into an amusing anecdote to tell to a completely different volunteer. Somehow discussing a time when you behaved very awkwardly leaves people gutting themselves laughing where the actual incident will leave people confused and uneasy.
Funny how that works.
Friday, January 14, 2011
What's My Sign?
This morning I logged onto facebook to find everyone all a-twitter about some shift in their horoscope. There was post after post of 'Now I'm a Gemini!' or 'I don't want to be a Pisces!' and I couldn't grasp what had happened. I was going to ignore it, but it just kept popping up all day. I finally googled it and was half amused and half bewildered with a hint of uncertainty sprinkled in there.
According to several blogs I was now a Taurus. But I identify strongly as a Gemini despite realizing that in all likelihood, my 'star sign' has nothing to do with anything. Everyone likes the magic to it though, so even if you realise it's totally bogus, a part of everyone wishes there was some mystical way of knowing their own futures. And so we indulge in it from time to time for kicks.
Anyways, I was thoroughly confused until I read this. So everyone's all in a tizzy over nothing. This isn't new and it doesn't even affect us westerners.
Stop your whining, you're still the same person you always were and astrology was just as accurate as it ever was.
According to several blogs I was now a Taurus. But I identify strongly as a Gemini despite realizing that in all likelihood, my 'star sign' has nothing to do with anything. Everyone likes the magic to it though, so even if you realise it's totally bogus, a part of everyone wishes there was some mystical way of knowing their own futures. And so we indulge in it from time to time for kicks.
Anyways, I was thoroughly confused until I read this. So everyone's all in a tizzy over nothing. This isn't new and it doesn't even affect us westerners.
Stop your whining, you're still the same person you always were and astrology was just as accurate as it ever was.
New TV
Yesterday was a day that my husband and I actually got to spend together. It's a rare occurrence, and thus when it happens, magical things also happen.
I suddenly became very inspired to create a home office for myself despite this being my last semester of school before moving across the province. This home office will only be in use for a maximum of 4 months. Yet, I was fiercely inspired so I went to the usual district and looked through Value Village and the Thrift Store looking for a desk/table/flat surface to begin my remodel. Alas I found nothing. So I asked a clerk to please check in the back room for a desk just in case they got one within the past few minutes. She did and upon returning empty handed, referred me to the BRAND NEW Goodwill down the street.
There had been a Goodwill in my area for several months now without me knowing. I rushed back home to tell my husband that we needed to go there instantly. We did and despite it being a relatively large Goodwill, with lots of other interesting things, there was nothing I could use for my home office.
There were, however, TVs. Now, our current tv technically works, but it is from about the mid 1980s and extremely frustrating when words pop up and you can't read them because the TV is so blurry. We saw one TV that was a good size and an ok price. I was hesitant because we couldn't really tell if it would be an improvement until we got it home and hooked it up, and by then it's non-returnable.
"You guys thinking about buying that TV?" A stranger had approached us. No doubt a student, mid to late 20s, likely high.
"Yeah," we said uncertainly.
"Do you want a free TV? I live just across the street and I'm moving so I need to get rid of it."
We pondered the offer and concluded that a free TV is far less of a gamble than a $10 TV, so we decided to take him up on his offer.
Turns out he did live across the street. He lived in a house, the driveway of which was situated in the middle of a T-intersection of the two busiest roads in all of Guelph. It was quite the adventure simply driving there. So we get the TV, and it's smaller than we would have liked, but free so we didn't complain. A roommate was there with the strange student and seemed to be considerably more inebriated, and both were giggling.
When we got back home, we disinfected every surface of the TV because we're a little worried about germs, especially considering the source, and we turned it on in the hopes that if Bed Bugs had crawled up in the nooks and crannies, they'd die of the heat. Once it was all hooked up and programmed, the difference was amazing. We could read words on it! The picture was clear! Red things didn't bleed into the rest of the picture and white things didn't glow. It was a glorious victory, and yet...it was considerably smaller than our old TV, and also than the TV we were looking at in Goodwill.
We decided that we'd go back to Goodwill and get the other TV too. The small one could be put in our bedroom for easy snuggling during movies. Except, when we got there, the TV had sold! Dissappointed, we went back home.
Then a thought crossed our minds. What if those guys weren't moving, but in fact were dumping their old TV on us so they could get the new, big TV?
Hmmmm.
I suddenly became very inspired to create a home office for myself despite this being my last semester of school before moving across the province. This home office will only be in use for a maximum of 4 months. Yet, I was fiercely inspired so I went to the usual district and looked through Value Village and the Thrift Store looking for a desk/table/flat surface to begin my remodel. Alas I found nothing. So I asked a clerk to please check in the back room for a desk just in case they got one within the past few minutes. She did and upon returning empty handed, referred me to the BRAND NEW Goodwill down the street.
There had been a Goodwill in my area for several months now without me knowing. I rushed back home to tell my husband that we needed to go there instantly. We did and despite it being a relatively large Goodwill, with lots of other interesting things, there was nothing I could use for my home office.
There were, however, TVs. Now, our current tv technically works, but it is from about the mid 1980s and extremely frustrating when words pop up and you can't read them because the TV is so blurry. We saw one TV that was a good size and an ok price. I was hesitant because we couldn't really tell if it would be an improvement until we got it home and hooked it up, and by then it's non-returnable.
"You guys thinking about buying that TV?" A stranger had approached us. No doubt a student, mid to late 20s, likely high.
"Yeah," we said uncertainly.
"Do you want a free TV? I live just across the street and I'm moving so I need to get rid of it."
We pondered the offer and concluded that a free TV is far less of a gamble than a $10 TV, so we decided to take him up on his offer.
Turns out he did live across the street. He lived in a house, the driveway of which was situated in the middle of a T-intersection of the two busiest roads in all of Guelph. It was quite the adventure simply driving there. So we get the TV, and it's smaller than we would have liked, but free so we didn't complain. A roommate was there with the strange student and seemed to be considerably more inebriated, and both were giggling.
When we got back home, we disinfected every surface of the TV because we're a little worried about germs, especially considering the source, and we turned it on in the hopes that if Bed Bugs had crawled up in the nooks and crannies, they'd die of the heat. Once it was all hooked up and programmed, the difference was amazing. We could read words on it! The picture was clear! Red things didn't bleed into the rest of the picture and white things didn't glow. It was a glorious victory, and yet...it was considerably smaller than our old TV, and also than the TV we were looking at in Goodwill.
We decided that we'd go back to Goodwill and get the other TV too. The small one could be put in our bedroom for easy snuggling during movies. Except, when we got there, the TV had sold! Dissappointed, we went back home.
Then a thought crossed our minds. What if those guys weren't moving, but in fact were dumping their old TV on us so they could get the new, big TV?
Hmmmm.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Day 1
So, it turns out this is pretty tricky. Trickier than I thought at least. I suppose it's the perfectionist in me that figures I can quit cold turkey. I did well for most of the day, but man, my skin starts feeling itchy and then as soon as I touch my face and feel any slight bump, the nails come out.
However, even though I've got quite a bit more whiteheads than usual (I usually don't tolerate them for any length of time), overall I think my skin is happier-looking. Less redness, much smoother. And because I'm not picking and causing my skin to ooze, I'm not covering my face as much with sweaters, hands or scarves. So in conclusion, despite the odd relapse, the overall lessening of skin picking is radically improving its condition.
So for all of you out there also suffering from dermatillomania: resist! It IS worth it!
However, even though I've got quite a bit more whiteheads than usual (I usually don't tolerate them for any length of time), overall I think my skin is happier-looking. Less redness, much smoother. And because I'm not picking and causing my skin to ooze, I'm not covering my face as much with sweaters, hands or scarves. So in conclusion, despite the odd relapse, the overall lessening of skin picking is radically improving its condition.
So for all of you out there also suffering from dermatillomania: resist! It IS worth it!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Dermatillomania
Wow! I went Googling for a while to see if there was some obscure acne picking support group and lo and behold I've got a disorder : Dermatillomania. Sounds kind of like a sort of armadillo or cockatil. It's the official term for the disorder. And here I thought everyone did it and just hid it, like farting and nose picking (the latter of which is a related disorder).
There are all sorts of causes it seems, but it tends to revolve around the same causes for anxiety disorders and OCD. Perfectionism, the cause that is likely causing my own behaviour, is a pretty common anticedent. The thought process that tends to occur is 'Oh look, there's an imperfection on my face. I MUST erradicate it!' and then surprise surprise, it makes it worse. It's kind of beyond logic really.
Believe it or not, there's even a 12 step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous! Now, I don't think I'll follow that route myself, but it may come to that eventually since most of the alternate methods are things I already do like good food and excercise.
Granted, this may just be one of those over-diagnosis type situations where there's no real need to label it a 'disorder' because those types of labels are often used as an excuse not to get better, but either way...I think I'll pursue this further and see where it leads. OCD runs strongly in my family and I do tend to be a perfectionist. Plus...if 'treatment' can deliver me good skin, why knock it?
There are all sorts of causes it seems, but it tends to revolve around the same causes for anxiety disorders and OCD. Perfectionism, the cause that is likely causing my own behaviour, is a pretty common anticedent. The thought process that tends to occur is 'Oh look, there's an imperfection on my face. I MUST erradicate it!' and then surprise surprise, it makes it worse. It's kind of beyond logic really.
Believe it or not, there's even a 12 step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous! Now, I don't think I'll follow that route myself, but it may come to that eventually since most of the alternate methods are things I already do like good food and excercise.
Granted, this may just be one of those over-diagnosis type situations where there's no real need to label it a 'disorder' because those types of labels are often used as an excuse not to get better, but either way...I think I'll pursue this further and see where it leads. OCD runs strongly in my family and I do tend to be a perfectionist. Plus...if 'treatment' can deliver me good skin, why knock it?
Happy New Year!
As arbitrary as New Years seems to be, and as ridiculous as the customs are, Happy New Year! Despite more or less general consensus that the year should start January 1st, my 5 minutes of Wiki/Googling could not explain why. It seems the date of the new year changes from country to country and from time period to time period. March 25th seemed to be a common one. Personally, I like the idea of March 25th being the New Year because not only is that the spring equinox (minus a couple days) but also spring typically signifies the beginning of life which is much more 'new yearsy' than the beginning of winter.
As for the customs, I have no official resolutions and I don't believe I have had any for quite a few years. I don't smoke, I only drink once in a blue moon, I don't bite my nails or chew on my hair and I'm exactly the weight I should be for my height. I'm not perfect mind you, but the typical resolutions don't apply to me, so I can't just pick one of the most popular ones and go to town. I would like one though. I like having goals to work toward.
I am, however, 22 years old and still battling acne. I've more or less been winning that battle for a few years now, but I'd been losing for so long that it'll take a while to recover. I have bad genes when it comes to skin. All but one member of my family had severe, severe acne leaving us all scarred and underconfident about our looks. Despite having a predisposition to acne, there ARE things that I can do, or rather refrain from doing, that would help considerably. So...I'm going to come to grips with reality and put it out there for the whole world to see (even though this side of acne is almost never talked about. In fact, I find that over the past few years acne has been painted with a victim's brush which only stagnates progress because it eliminates the personal responsibility aspect to recovery.)
I pick at my skin. There, I said it. I do it. I know I shouldn't, I know it'll make things worse, but it's basically become second nature. It takes me a while to even realise I'm doing it. So, I think that my new years resolution is to break the habit of picking at my skin. I'm not sure if there are any support groups or tips and tricks to it, but I think that if I can break that habit, my skin will thank me for it.
So this is where I leave you. Feel free to comment on your own acne battle, what you resolve to do or not do this year and when you think the new year should begin.
As for the customs, I have no official resolutions and I don't believe I have had any for quite a few years. I don't smoke, I only drink once in a blue moon, I don't bite my nails or chew on my hair and I'm exactly the weight I should be for my height. I'm not perfect mind you, but the typical resolutions don't apply to me, so I can't just pick one of the most popular ones and go to town. I would like one though. I like having goals to work toward.
I am, however, 22 years old and still battling acne. I've more or less been winning that battle for a few years now, but I'd been losing for so long that it'll take a while to recover. I have bad genes when it comes to skin. All but one member of my family had severe, severe acne leaving us all scarred and underconfident about our looks. Despite having a predisposition to acne, there ARE things that I can do, or rather refrain from doing, that would help considerably. So...I'm going to come to grips with reality and put it out there for the whole world to see (even though this side of acne is almost never talked about. In fact, I find that over the past few years acne has been painted with a victim's brush which only stagnates progress because it eliminates the personal responsibility aspect to recovery.)
I pick at my skin. There, I said it. I do it. I know I shouldn't, I know it'll make things worse, but it's basically become second nature. It takes me a while to even realise I'm doing it. So, I think that my new years resolution is to break the habit of picking at my skin. I'm not sure if there are any support groups or tips and tricks to it, but I think that if I can break that habit, my skin will thank me for it.
So this is where I leave you. Feel free to comment on your own acne battle, what you resolve to do or not do this year and when you think the new year should begin.
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