(no subject)
One week without pulling! I've been diligently tracking my urges, and they have been progressing in the opposite direction as would be desireable. Day one included a single urge lasting just a few seconds. Day 7 (yesterday) included several urges throughout the day, lasting up to four hours. I guess what can be learned from this is that even though my will-power may be dwindling, I am capable of resisting and seeking out alternatives when the urge hits.
According to the self-recovery program I'm following, week one is observation. The idea is to discover locations/situations/emotions that trigger pulling urges. What I observed?
Location- computer at home, on the couch watching tv, lying in bed at night before falling asleep
Situation- after work, winding down for the evening, going to bed
Emotion- bored, tired, stressed, apathetic, spaced out
Week two involves implementing a 'competing response'. A competing response is when you do something that utilizes the same muscle groups but is incompatible with pulling. This is to be used in situations where an urge to pull is becoming evident. It is most effective when used at the beginning of an urge rather than trying to interrupt a pulling session. Examples of competing responses include: clenching fists (any location), squeezing koosh balls (while watching tv/at computer), doing pushups (in bed, or while watching tv), tightly grasping the steering wheel (in the car), tightly grasping blankets (in bed), etc. All competing responses must be maintained for at least two minutes, and repeated as long as the urge lasts.
This is sometimes a challenge for me because I'm usually pretty lazy. The last thing I want to do is exercise my arms for two minutes every time I feel an urge to pull. But, I'm willing to give it the old college try. Rumour has it that the more you do it, the easier it is to do. When you think of it, I've done my fair share of pulling non-stop for hours until my wrists and hands are too sore to pull any more, so a couple minutes of muscle tension couldn't be much more uncomfortable than that.
Current state of affairs:
Large version: http://pics.livejournal.com/jumpinglegacy/pic/001h44yk
Large version: http://pics.livejournal.com/jumpinglegacy/pic/001h5ee1
Wow, my eye colours are fabulous in those pictures! I haven't taken a recent shot of my actual head, but I shall do that soon. One of my favourite parts of recovery is watching the progress :) And, one of my favourite parts of the pictures above is that I'm "starting" with already wonderful eyebrows and bottom lashes!
Here's to week two!