03/08/2020
Have you ever been playing hide and seek, or maybe gone hunting, and found it almost impossible to suppress a sneeze or cough? Ooooh, that feeling can make a person mad!
The pressure for us all to quit touching our faces is rising, and for me, at least, trying to stop can bring those same sensations of compulsion, discomfort, and intense frustration.
The trouble is, habits are hard to break and few habits are as long-standing, or as rewarding, as touching our faces. You most likely began touching your face as a form of social communication, and a form of self-soothing, well before you said your first word. That puts this habit in a new perspective, doesn’t it?
Changing deep seated habits, like this, is possible, but it requires more than simply deciding to stop.
-> The first step is to begin practicing mindfulness of your facial touching. Turn your awareness towards this habit, and spend a day or so noticing, non-judgmentally, each time you touch your face. Don’t focus on stopping yet, simply practice noticing. This step is the foundation of your plan to change this habit, so please don’t give it short shrift.
-> The next step is to begin noticing the urge you have to touch your face, before you actually touch it. Here is where you have a chance to begin decreasing this behavior. When you notice this urge, observe whether the behavior is necessary. Most of the time it won’t be necessary, but there are, obviously, still times when we all need to touch our faces. This entire process is about gaining control over the behavior, and choosing when to touch or not.
-> Notice the urge, and if the behavior is *not* necessary, substitute an alternative behavior. It’s good to have one or two substitute behaviors selected in advance, to experiment with. These substitutes should be self-soothing and/or distracting behaviors like brief but complex mental tasks (listing all the national parks you can think of, counting backwards from 100 by sevens, etc.) and self-soothing activities like breathing exercises, tapping, or massaging the back of your neck.
-> If you’re able to delay touching your face, or resist the urge entirely, CONGRATULATE YOURSELF! This is a significant achievement and the more genuine and positive self-talk you have about each success, the more successful you’ll continue to be.
One more thing:
Some habits are urgent enough to be all-or-nothing propositions. This is often the case with drugs, alcohol, and to***co. Touching your face is NOT one of these scenarios. There will continue to be many times when it is both safe and appropriate to touch your face, and it’s a stressful enough habit to break that it’s worth letting down your guard, dropping your mindfulness, and returning to “normal” some of the time. When are those times? Most likely when you’re at home, you are certain that anyone who lives with you isn’t contagious, and, of course, when you have squeaky-clean, freshly washed hands.
What experiences, tips, and tricks, do you have around changing this habit?
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