Change one thing about yourself

[RabbitWho]

Why wait till the new year to make a resolution?

1. Think about something you do that you wish you didn't, or something that you don't do that you wish you did, something that it's in your power to change.
The thing must be doable in a month! It can be impossible! But it must be doable!
It must be something that allows that at the end of the month you will know for certain if you've managed it or not. The success has to be measurable!
2. Choose a day of the week, and every week on that day write a message or post a video here saying how it's going (set a reminder in your phone now! )
3. Deadline four weeks later, say how it went and what you thought of it, how it benefited, what went wrong, what you learned, if you will keep it up.

You can update more than once a week if you like but if you update less then you fail and you don't win any theoretical magic pineapple.



So I'll start.
I have terrible problems making eye contact with people.
The number one problem with this is obviously that they think I'm not interested or they can't hear me when I speak because I'm looking away.
Or at least that's what I thought was the number one problem!
It turns out that the number one problem is that I miss social signals, I don't realise when someone has taken something the wrong way and gotten offended or when they're surprised or shocked or anything like that. I think I have managed to offend people a few times by saying something which was misunderstood and not realising how it had went over and swooping in to clarify what I meant.
So the resolution is to look at people at least 60% of the time while I'm talking to them or 80% of the time while I'm listening.

[Deleted]

If I could change one thing about myself, it would be that I'm quite overweight. (BMI = 35.. 1.85m 127kg)



I know that sounds really superficial, but it's not only because I think that being fat makes you uglier, but also because of less superficial things.
For example, I sweat a lot due to my weight, and I hate that, it's so uncomfortable. Also, there's a lot of stuff I just can't do cuz I'm too fat, like going climbing or running with my friends,...
and I can't snowboard as well as I could if I were less fat..

Another problem is my inability to focus on my studies
problem is that both of these are caused by a lack of perseverance, which I'm working on by going to a psychologist atm.

also, thanks for sending the audiobook, you're amazing

[RabbitWho]

It's really brave to admit it these things. I know it's a horrible problem.. who was it.. maybe SXEPhil was talking about some mice these "scientists" got addicted to junk food (because apparently "scientists" have nothing better to do than feed junkfood to mice) and they would keep eating through electric shocks because they were so addicted, not because they were hungry, but because they craved it.

And people tease overweight people so much, they seem to think it's okay. And underweight people too, everyone thinks it's okay to tease really thin people, they think they're encouraging them to eat more. It drives me crazy when I see it, people will actually out right say to someone "Your legs are disgusting, you're like someone from a Concern Ad" *shudder*

I think soft drinks are the easiest things to give up, and if you drink water instead of them that's really healthy. Also every one bite of food i have when having dinner i usually have about 3 gulps of water, even when I drink soup i have to drink water or milk with it, so that fills me up real fast. That's probably useless advice, but i happen to be drinking water right now!

Maybe someone here will have been through something similar and be able to give you advice.

Once a friend of mine and I who i met online were walking down the street and he said "I have a terrible problem making eye contact with people... you probably noticed."
" - Me too.. and I didn't notice... "
And we realised we'd been walking around and talking all day and hadn't looked at each other once.

[Deleted]

I don't really have problems with people teasing me or anything
I'm really social and that makes up for that a lot I learned at young age that the best way to handle with teasing is to be able to laugh with yourself (+people love that XD makes you kinda popular )
And I like that, I don't like being fat, but I like being able to laugh with it and it not being a hindrance to my contact with people

[RabbitWho]

That's cool!

I think "be thin" is too ambitious for a month, you couldn't get it sustainable. It can be impossible, but it has to be doable. (Yes they should be synonyms, but I decided yesterday that they wouldn't be, i'll probably post a thread about that eventually too )

But think: What is the least healthy thing about my lifestyle? Make a list of maybe 3 or 4 things, and then decide which one of these is most logical to cut out, something that wouldn't be too difficult but would be very beneficial. Like coke or something. Then watch that you don't just substitute it with something else.
Also if you've an oral fixation make sure you've something to chew!
What do you think?

[Road]

I AM GOING TO STOP BITING MY NAILS. AAAGH.

I've tried for years!

[RabbitWho]

See if you can find a hand-cream that tastes horrible!

Otherwise you'll bite your nails without knowing it.

I did printmaking in college and you get a lot of ink on your fingers, even though i made a conscious effort not to touch my face, and every day would be fully convinced I hadn't touched it once.. When I went to the bathroom I would look like a coal miner.




So far I haven't managed to improve with the eye contact today, but It's on my mind so thats' a step in the right direction.

[hellblaze123]

I am in the same boat as Crracktheskye, im waaaaaaaay overweight, like DAAAAMN fat lol
so im trying to start walking more and doing more to keep my heart moving and my body moving. But there are still problems i have. Like my problem that made me fat, my addiction to food.

Sometimes im not even thinking, or noticing, but then i look down and im eating a sandwich in the middle of the freaking night. And its like, im not even hungry, its when i get bored, or sometimes its like im eating just to eat. I dont understand it, but im trying to be more conscious, trying to stay out of the kitchen at night as much as possible. but this is still a work in progress

[Yokailo]

Apr 7, 2010 4:29:43 GMT -5 Road said:

I AM GOING TO STOP BITING MY NAILS. AAAGH.

I've tried for years!

I'm trying to stop as well, and I've found a great way to do it.

Buy some (semi-)transparent nail polish. Something pretty, but not too 'big'.
And polish your nails really carefully. Make sure you make them as pretty as you can, and spend as much time on it as you need to make them wonderful.
I realize it might look odd on really tiny nails - believe me, my pinky-nail was about 4 mm long when I started - but if you keep doing it, you'll think "Awww, why spoil the nail polish?" and you will stop biting them.
It's worked for me. And don't give up once you bite them once anyway, just take all the polish off all your nails and polish them all again. As a kind of punishment. It's worked for me, though I've been doing it for a couple of months now and I still need this polish to keep me from biting my nails.

[RabbitWho]

I find whenever i'm watching TV at home as soon as the ads come on i get up and look in the cupboard in the kitchen for food. If there's no food i don' even think and i just go back and sit down. I didn't even realize I did that, until I was living with my cousins and one kept apologizing that there was no food and I tried to explain.. no no I'm not looking for food! I just do this! Habits are terrible.

"I'm going to walk more" in not a specific enough goal for this project. How about you say "I'm going to walk half a mile every day for a month" Then you'll know if it's working or not, or what score you got out of thirty. Eg. 20/30 days. Not bad!

Apr 7, 2010 13:26:41 GMT -5 Yokailo said:

Apr 7, 2010 4:29:43 GMT -5 Road said:

I AM GOING TO STOP BITING MY NAILS. AAAGH.

I've tried for years!

I'm trying to stop as well, and I've found a great way to do it.

Buy some (semi-)transparent nail polish. Something pretty, but not too 'big'.
And polish your nails really carefully. Make sure you make them as pretty as you can, and spend as much time on it as you need to make them wonderful.
I realize it might look odd on really tiny nails - believe me, my pinky-nail was about 4 mm long when I started - but if you keep doing it, you'll think "Awww, why spoil the nail polish?" and you will stop biting them.
It's worked for me. And don't give up once you bite them once anyway, just take all the polish off all your nails and polish them all again. As a kind of punishment. It's worked for me, though I've been doing it for a couple of months now and I still need this polish to keep me from biting my nails.

Ha ha! I love biting off nail polish! When I know i'll be in a stressful situation i put on nail polish just so i can bite it off!

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2010 12:24:10 GMT -5 hellblaze123 said:

I am in the same boat as Crracktheskye, im waaaaaaaay overweight, like DAAAAMN fat lol
so im trying to start walking more and doing more to keep my heart moving and my body moving. But there are still problems i have. Like my problem that made me fat, my addiction to food.

Sometimes im not even thinking, or noticing, but then i look down and im eating a sandwich in the middle of the freaking night. And its like, im not even hungry, its when i get bored, or sometimes its like im eating just to eat. I dont understand it, but im trying to be more conscious, trying to stay out of the kitchen at night as much as possible. but this is still a work in progress

I have the same thing, eating during the night. It double sucks because after that you go asleep and two things happen:
1) You don't move, so all the energy from the food goes directly to fat
2) You're nauseous in the morning

at least that how it goes with me.

Okay, so specific goal: I'm going to ride my hometrainer bike everyday for at least 15 minutes at an average of at least 27 km/h
and twice a week I'll do 30 minutes.

I'll make video's and upload them on Youtube and post them here
(starting from tomorrow, I have a headache T_T)

[Yokailo]

Apr 7, 2010 13:26:41 GMT -5 Yokailo said:

I'm trying to stop as well, and I've found a great way to do it.

Buy some (semi-)transparent nail polish. Something pretty, but not too 'big'.
And polish your nails really carefully. Make sure you make them as pretty as you can, and spend as much time on it as you need to make them wonderful.
I realize it might look odd on really tiny nails - believe me, my pinky-nail was about 4 mm long when I started - but if you keep doing it, you'll think "Awww, why spoil the nail polish?" and you will stop biting them.
It's worked for me. And don't give up once you bite them once anyway, just take all the polish off all your nails and polish them all again. As a kind of punishment. It's worked for me, though I've been doing it for a couple of months now and I still need this polish to keep me from biting my nails.

Ha ha! I love biting off nail polish! When I know i'll be in a stressful situation i put on nail polish just so i can bite it off! [/quote]

Lol. xD
Not if you take a long time to put it on.

[Deleted]

there's a special type nailpolish that tastes really bad developed just for this

[click3tyclick]

I like to think I can quit stuff with nothing but the power of my mind.

I'm wrong.

[Deleted]

After 1 year and a bit of smoking, I was able to stop without problems. But that's the first time something like that went easy XD

[RabbitWho]

Oh I must mention i have a sub project going on too: Don't say anything negative on the internet. I just got a reminder of it because I just got an email from a poor fella named Brefni who made the mistake of giving out his e-mail address on the Late Late Show about a month or two a go and low and behold I told him he was a fool for no reason. So now I had to apologize and explain that I'm an idiot and wish him the best of luck with life. Oh and I thought it was so FUNNY at the time!
Ahhhhhhh *bangs head against wall* seriously, I am constantly going from stage 1 to 3 and back again. How do I stop negativity and tiredness and frustration from leaking in? I don't know.

[Adrian (123easyway)]

I am a knuckle cracker :S Hated by some, passively welcomed by others, i feel i should probably stop.

[mashuga31]

Apr 8, 2010 12:09:25 GMT -5 Adrian (123easyway) said:

I am a knuckle cracker :S Hated by some, passively welcomed by others, i feel i should probably stop.

haha, me too.

Apr 7, 2010 15:45:54 GMT -5 RabbitWho said:

Oh I must mention i have a sub project going on too: Don't say anything negative on the internet. I just got a reminder of it because I just got an email from a poor fella named Brefni who made the mistake of giving out his e-mail address on the Late Late Show about a month or two a go and low and behold I told him he was a fool for no reason. So now I had to apologize and explain that I'm an idiot and wish him the best of luck with life. Oh and I thought it was so FUNNY at the time!
Ahhhhhhh *bangs head against wall* seriously, I am constantly going from stage 1 to 3 and back again. How do I stop negativity and tiredness and frustration from leaking in? I don't know.

Negativity isn't 'always' extremely bad although it is bad in general. Apologizing is good. I'm never negative at school or the internet but I'm always negative towards my family at home < That's what i'm going to try and stop.

Goal: Say no negative remarks until due date.
Easily measureable. Each time I say something dumb like that just put a tally on a piece of paper. At the end of the month, add up the tallies (if any). I think a max of 10 would be doing average. 5 would be better. 0 would be great.

[RabbitWho]

I failed miserably at this project. It only stayed in my mind a week and i never made the weekly updates I meant to. What about everyone else, any more luck?

[click3tyclick]

I've been trying to be nicer. I've been failing miserably.