Yaaaaay that sounds like a great system! So you've got three smiley faces (with sunglasses!) on so far, not bad at all! Congratulations!

We must have the same trich voice because mine is always saying the same shit too. Sigh. "oh just one more won't hurt now"; "you've ruined it so it doesn't really matter if you pull one or two more"; (except in my case I pull out DOZENS); "hmm that one was pretty loose, I won't count it." BLAAAH.

Yeah the biggest problem for me is the "I won't count it" voice. Bah. I'm so great at convincing myself it didn't count. The guilt of "lying" always eats me up and I always admit I pulled in the end.

Yep 3 smiley faces but only one has sunglasses as I only have one pull free day so far. Pulled 3 today ao my rating is 2. I get to draw another smiley face tomorrow morning :) I designed and printed out monthly calendars until July next year. I'm aiming to commit to rating my pulling from 0-10 until then, with the aim of reducing my numbers/increasing my amounts of low number/0 days in a row.

The "you've ruined it already so might as well pull more" is what always kills me. I am trying to identify those irrational thoughts as "trich voice" and seperate it from my own thoughts (I read about that somewhere). Similar methods have worked to help me with anxiety in the past.

Oh, and I love your smiley face system!!

Yess "trich thoughts". I'm trying to do that too. Our trich persona is so damn crafty! I think once we start practicing it'll get easier. Like "oh that's my trich voice. I won't listen to that lie".

Hehe i like my system too, thanks.

I read that giving your "anxiety voice" a sort of separate identity helps you recognize that it is irrational. The book I read it in suggested visualizing it is a radio or something and picturing it being pushed off into the distance. Or, turning the "anxiety voice" into the voice of someone really silly or annoying to help you disassociate it from yourself and take it less seriously- the example in the book was Paris Hilton, hahaha. Maybe the same strategies would work for the "trich voice"?

I want to smash the "trich voice" radio with a sledgehammer!! ;) I like the idea of giving that voice a separate identity and being able to tell myself not to listen. Yay for the smiley faces, Sam. Putting them on the calendar reminds me of a poster I had in my room growing up: "Start each day in a happy way".

Yup, for me, the "I've ruined it, so...." voice is the killer. The loose ones, welllllll, I figure, if you are foraging or stranding, and one comes out, that is not a pull, but you are still engaging in The Behavior. I was just doing this. Guilty. If a pull of any kind is involved, it is a pull.

I'm glad you are finding a way to keep those numbers down. Hopefully soon, the sticker will be awarded for less than 5

Manda - haha at the Paris Hilton voice! Love it. "oh my gaaaaad, like, you totally RUINed it. There's totally no point in resisting any moooore." "shut up minger that's stupid".

Booyah, ha I like your violent thoughts. And your poster. I would gave totally defaced that poster as a cynical kid.

Phoebe, yep I'm going to see how I go. At the moment it's still a good day if I pull 9 or less hairs (obviously the lower the better). But in a month or two I might lower that limit to 4 hairs.

I'm loving this new system. It's less stress, less pressure. And Ive never tried to recover before, gradually, I've only ever tried to "stop". So this will be an interesting experiment.

I've found that even when I try to just stop abruptly, it tends to happen that I try hard for awhile and the pulling tapers off gradually. So your system totally makes sense. I used to give myself a happy face for a totally PF day, a cross for a day of minimal pulling, and some ugly picture for serious pulling. It was sort of punitive, haha. Yours is more positive!

Yes that is what I am trying to do right now, taper off gradually.

Ha ha, I like how you called Paris Hilton a "minger." OMG, what is that?!

""I've ruined it, so...." voice is the killer." I totally agree with this. This is the hardest aspect of the trich voice for me.

Congratulations on your 2 Sam! : ))

Ha yes I always thought yours was a little harsh, but I thought "whatever works!".

5 smiley faces now. Yesterday my score was a 1 (I pulled one hair early evening).

Booyah, ha it's more of a uk thing. It's like you're just f****** gross. A bit harsh when I put it like that!

Let's taper taper, and not let those inevitable bad days shake us off our path.

Haha yes mine is punitive, but it does work for me more than a more positive one would. I try to keep my goals difficult to reach, but still possible. It's funny because I'm a special ed teacher, and I use really similar charts to track my students' behavior and they would describe them the same way - a bit harsh, but for the purpose of keeping challenging but attainable goals in mind. If I were pulling more than I am now, I would alter my system a bit to allow for a bit more flexibility.

5 smiley faces - awesome!!

Yaaaay 5 smiley faces!

Maybe I will call my boyfriend a minger next time he pees in the bathroom while talking to me on Skype. Ha ha ha!

"Let's taper taper, and not let those inevitable bad days shake us off our path." I totally agree, I would have never thought I would be able to have 2 pull free days in a row again, I think that by tapering it totally helped me get there.

Are you still giving yourself crosses and smiley faces Manda?

M - Hey whatever works! That's the thing about trich, everyone has to do what works for THEM. And thanks!

B - Ha ew! It's something you really only call a female. But don't let that stop you.

6 smiley faces now! And today I didn't pull any hairs, so I got to draw sunnies on the face :) So even though technically I could pull 9 hairs a day and it would still be a "good" day, I'm not pulling that many. And I'm not trying any less. It's just less stressful. And knowing that I CAN pull if I really want, and that bad days are ok, is great. Like this morning I didn't say to myself "I'm going to be pull free", I just thought "I'm going to do my best to resist any urges."