What's a seemingly harmless habit of yours that you struggle to break?

I tend say "I mean..." before saying things. No one has ever pointed it out. but I'm very aware of it and catch myself doing it all the time. Sometimes 2-3 times in a discussion.

Biting my nails and the skin around my nails. Currently trying to quit again. On day 6.

You're doing great. What helped me quit when I was a teenager was to always know where my nail clippers were, and have fast access to them. So whenever I had an urge due to an uneven nail edge, I'd just smooth it out with clippers or a nail file. Really made it simple to quit.
- That's how I've done it in the past. I keep nail clippers in my pocket all day. Thanks for the tip though.
I used to do it, what helped me break it was keeping a rubber band on my wrist and every time id bite, id snap my self with the rubber band, took ~1.5 weeks for me to stop
- But what if I'm a masochist?
Keep it up !! Id really like to be able to quit too
- It's tough for sure. I quit once for a year and a half, but some stressful times got me back into biting. You can quit too!
What helped me quit was a manicure. Spending $40+ on my nails helped me not want to bite them. By the time the gel chipped off, I broke the habit, so I didn’t go back. I still pick off hangnails and the uneven structure, but having a file next to my desk at all times helps with that. I also have a cheat nail where I mess it up if I need to.

Staying up late. It's not harmless.

Same. I will potter around until 5 or 6 am and then hate myself as I have a meeting in the morning that I will either need to drag myself out of bed for or sleep until lunchtime and lose half the productive day.

R̶e̶d̶d̶i̶t̶ Lemmy

Same

Reading.

Hear me out! I have always been an avid reader, get very sucked into plots. I got diagnosed with ADHD in June. Since I've been medicated I've read $15,000 worth of library books. A little of that amount was before June, but most has been since then.

I will walk around the house making food while reading. If I am doing something that requires my hands then it's a podcast or audiobook. This all being said a lot has been manga or graphic novels but there have been days when I read 10+ books.

Probably doesn't sound like the worst problem but it's something that has started to impact my life in ways I did not expect.

Thanks for reading!

I haven't done the math on "value" read, but I do 15-20 hours of audiobook (because 2x speed) on work days. It definitely can make finding new reads a challenge.
- some libraries include that fun little stat on your slips.
You could try set a countdown on your phone to snap you out of it after an hour or so.
- I have tried several different ways, and I will try the alarm again since you've suggested it - thank you by the way - but I often get laser focused in such a way that I don't hear my partner speaking when he's beside me on the couch.
I've been sucked into a depression fueled reading hole where I just read and lay in bed for several days. What's weird though is after a couple of days I start to narrate my dreams and if long enough it begins to make its way into my waking life?

Ever experienced anything like this?
- Whoa I have not but that sounds intense. You should try blowing stuff up with your mind.
How do people like you find the time to work?
- I'm on disability and cannot. But thanks.

Late night snacking

Waking up feeling slightly sick has been the norm for me for the past 5+ years

I regularly eat right before bed and I don't have this, in fact if I don't do it I wake up really hungry. It's still a bad habit on my part. Maybe something else at work?
Sounds awful. Do you know what causes it? Otherwise this might not be in your control. Worth seeing a holistic therapist to find the root cause and hopefully feel better.

Learning a new hobby right after getting partway through another one

Biting my nails. Been doing it for as long as I can remember. I think I stopped once but went back to it as soon as I realized I stopped.

I have the same problem, except I'll sometimes end up chewing them so much that one finger will bleed in-between the finger and nail on the side. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have dried blood under one of my fingernails.
- I used be a an absolute fiend for biting my nails. What fixed it was buying a little Swiss army knife nail set. It's got a wee little nail clippers and file. It fulfilled the need for nervous movement.
- Friend of mine solved this by using a sort of nail polish that tastes super bitter. Got her to keep her fingers out of her mouth.
Oh I can relate with this. I've recently managed to stop (hopefully for good) for the silliest of reasons. I want nice long nails.
I know it sounds silly, but I've switched from biting my nails to running my finger tip along one of my nails instead. I admire how nice they feel and it somehow takes the biting impulse away.
One thing I do need to do is an almost daily filing to keep them completely smooth. I know that I'll resume biting if I find an irregularity or a jagged edge.
- deleted
There is invisible nail polish that works well.

It makes nails taste horrible, and you will be reminded even if you bite your nails absent-mindedly.

Should give it a try if you really want to stop.

I can't stop buying Chia pets. They can't stop making new designs. Send help.

Biting/Knawing/Anxiety picking at my lips and fingers, it's not fun

Breathing.

You're struggling to break that habit?
- Yes.

Turns out Lemmy is pretty wholesome according to this thread :P

To be fair, they specifically asked for harmless habits!

Mine is I can't resist being contrary/devil's advocate...
- Someone has to be!

Forgetting time, space and everything else while I write code.

Not that I've almost set the kitchen on fire before by forgetting the pizza in the oven while writing "this one little function".

I'm curious as to what you program/work in. I'm the same way when I'm invested into a configuration/template (I work with the cloud)
- It doesn't really matter for me what it is, as long as it is a project I'm working on xD
  
  I think at the time I was migrating a discord bot I to use PostgreSQL - or setting up auto backups for it.
When I'm baking bread, I have to set timers for myself to make sure it doesn't overproof or burn in the oven.

The feeling is wild. I sit down, set a timer for 1-2 hrs, start work, and with the snap of a finger I'm torn out of my zone by my alarm sound.

Eating sweets.
Doesnt kill me (yet).

I tend to start sentences with "So," in emails and that just doesn't seem professional.

I love caffeine, but it messes me up bad. Absolutely debilitating headaches. I'll go six months or something without, and then relapse until I get woken up by a jackhammer in my skull and give it up again. Sigh. I don't understand the studies that actually suggest it's good for you.

I have occasionally tried giving up caffeine, and once the initial withdrawal headache passed, all that happened for me was more migraines (even after several months without it) and about 3 lb of weight increase. Daily caffeine does help me to prevent headaches.
- Funny how caffeine for me causes headaches, and for you prevents them. I used to get bad migraines (the throwing-up-painful kind) when I was young. I wonder if that has something to do with it.
- Whoa, I find it weird that people get withdrawal symptoms. I drink too much of it every day and I've never had so much a slight headache from quitting cold-turkey.
that doesnt seem harmless.
- It sounds like a rare reaction. Some people are allergic to water but you wouldn't say, "that doesn't sound harmless."
Maybe the diuretic nature (u pee more) gives you a headache. Next relapse, drink a glass of water or three.
- I thought that too. It doesn't seem to help. At least not quick enough.

If it was harmless, why would I care to break it?

If you strive to break a habit, it likely is because it has done harm, no?

https://lemmy.ca/comment/5299611

Doesnt harm/kill OP, but OP wants to quit anyway.
- They have identified that the habit is harmful. Not all harm is associated with pain or injury. You can cause a person practical/emotional/financial harm, and those are still forms of harm.
It says seemingly harmless
- ... ok? But if it seemed to be harmless then why would you try to break it?

Caffeine. For the love of god, why isn't this drug ~~legalized~~ legislated like Alcohol and Nicotine is?!

I get a headache if it is late enough in the morning and I haven't had caffeine yet. I get a headache if I have too much caffeine.

Whenever I'm typing and there's a character limit, if I'm closer to the limit than I am to having zero characters, I try to fill the limit with precision even if I don't need to.