Since I was a child, I’ve had some kind of hand-movement habit. Initially, I bit my nails until I sat on my hands for a week straight in second grade. Then it was nose-picking (I admit, with my chin held high), and I stopped because they made my now-long nails dirty. Somehow it’s evolved into me touching my face, usually with the back of my hand.
This seems harmless. Then, so what? I honestly don’t find it the worst thing to do, but I have noticed it irritates my skin, leaves sebum residue on my hands, and, overall, it just doesn’t look too cool. Over the past 4 days, I have learned a lot about why I fall back into this habit, what triggers it, and how it manifests in my day-to-day.
I tracked my habit by having a reminder go off every 1hr during the day titled “Are you touching your face?” Because I’m addicted to my iPhone, even in greyscale, this proved effective. Most often, I noticed the face-touching when I was deep in concentration, like talking to my friends about who-knows-what or working at my desk with one hand free. Environmental factors also triggered face-touching, such as the dry weather outside and the dust in my suite in GovCo. Stress and anxiety also triggered the habit, especially when working toward a deadline or getting from point A to point B. Central to this habit was awareness of my body; I think this behavior might serve as a check-in. Touching my face grounds my experience in my physicality and reminds myself that, no matter how caught up I am in the moment, I am presently there.
Though face-touching eases some stress or environmental discomfort, it has two effects. First, I feel the reward of smooth skin and a sense of grounding in my body. Second, I am reminded that overdoing this action really does mess up my skin, no matter how much I exfoliate at the end of the day. For now, I am glad I have formalized my reasoning for this action, and I hope to wean myself off this habit in the future.
What I wish I had done differently centered on remembering to log the action. Simply noting “dust” (environmental factor) or “bugs” (work stress) wasn’t sufficient to help me log my behavior. While the hourly reminder helped, a notebook/dedicated Google Sheet to help log would have been better. After I post this, I’ll look for some Korean moisturizers that might help with my itchy skin, and maybe a better allergy pill for dust. Thanks for reading!
-GRK
