A Solution for Trich?

Hi guys,

I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and happy during these stressful times.

I know I haven't posted here in a while, but I'm back. I decided to use quarantine as an opportunity to better myself, and I already did in many ways. I also set myself the goal to work on my trichotillomania.

At first, it was a disaster. Online school and constant stress had me endlessly tearing out my brows and lashes, reducing them to probably the worst form they've ever been in. It got to the point where I would wear makeup to cover them, at home, in front of my own family, because I was so ashamed.

Then one day, sobbing after pulling out most of my right eyelashes, I came to something of an epiphany. I realized that negativity would never stop my trich. Crying in the bathroom, punishing myself, and reading up on the nasty consequences of pulling only made things worse when I was so sure that they would help.

Most people already know this. I was told this on DailyStrength and I was told this on every trich site. After a few years of struggling with trich, I finally understand that negativity will get you nowhere. But here's the thing: I don't think positivity is the key, either.

Positivity is uplifting yourself, for example by concentrating on a future event you're looking forward to, hence motivating you to stop pulling. Positivity could also be rewarding yourself for not pulling at the end of the day or week. But what I think should be done is not thinking about trich at ALL.

You see, neither positivity nor negativity will work in my opinion, because both of them involve thinking about your trich a lot. Since it's a disorder stemming from the brain, it's probably not a good idea!

So, without really trying, I simply stopped thinking about my trich. When the urge appeared to pull out a brow hair, I gently diverted my attention to something else. And that was that. I never think of pulling anymore. I don't stare and sob at my brows and lashes in the mirror (I stand farther away from it so I can't even see the individual hairs). 

And guess what? I haven't pulled for several days now, when I used to pull at least ten times a day!

I really hope this all made sense. I don't really understand it all myself. But that's because... I'm not thinking about it too much.