Quote:
Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer
As children we begged her to stop. I don't know why she doesn't want to stop.
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Strange. Having lung problems would normally be a very good motivation to stop smoking.
Because that's the key: you'll have to have a true motivation. Case in point: I've been a nail biter for decades; suddenly started as a child and never quit. Even so, I took organ lessons (classic/Hammond) and never had a real problem with it. I wasn't an extreme biter; I only took off the white free edge, but still, my nails were decidedly short.
I tried to quit.... 10 times? 20? More? I just tried to quit... because... nothing. Because I tried to quit. Failed every time.
Then I swapped my organ for a piano. Rambled about on it for some time, teaching myself proper piano touch and pedaling (as I already know all music theory I'll ever need, when not going for an MA in music).
At some point I thought: I can get to level such and such on my own, as it is comparable to what I did on the organ, but then, with the more difficult pieces, I need a teacher. Somewhere in the future, I'll go and take some piano lessons in the higher levels.
Somehow, somewhere, I subconsciously decided that someone of my age couldn't go and get piano lessons with bitten off nails. I didn't make a conscious effort to stop nail biting, but since I told myself "somewhere in the future I'll go and take some lessons again", I just magically quit.
Haven't bitten a nail for over a year. I cut and groom them as any normal man would. Now, everything looks normal and you wouldn't suspect I ever bit a single nail in my life.
I'm 100% positive that having the motivation to someday take lessons and do it with decent looking hands too, was the cause of me quitting nail biting virtually over night. I actually shudder to think of biting at a nail instead of cutting it... can't fathom why I would _want_ to bite it, honestly. Having normal nails actually made life easier, such as when trying to peel something...
There is one difference though: nail biting is a bad habit. Smoking is an addiction. I don't know how much this will have an impact.