A few months ago, I was in a reclined chair with a pair of sunglasses on, when I was handed a refreshing little drink in a shot glass. Okay, it was a paper cup…that I had to spit back into. Anyway, as the dentist poked and prodded around in my mouth, he began to do that thing all dentists love to do: engage in conversation. “Do you have any hobbies?” “Where do you go to school?” “Got any plans this weekend?” I never know how or when to respond to these questions, but they’re innocent enough. You never expect it to get deep, though, which is why I was surprised when my dentist asked, “Are you stressed?”
We’ve all got our own little habits that are so subconscious we don’t even realize they’re happening. Apparently mine is biting the inside of my lip, which, ever since it was pointed out by my dentist, I can’t stop noticing. He told me it could be a small sign of stress or anxiety, and that it was for sure causing small amounts of trauma to the inside of my mouth.
This got me thinking about other small habits that I have, and I’ve come to realize they stem from feelings of unease. So, it’s time for me to fess up to these tendencies, and talk about the ways in which I am confronting and breaking the habits!
- Lip biting
I am literally chewing on the inside of my mouth as I type this. Is it because writing is actively stressing me out? No! I don’t even realize I am doing it, which points to a more general presence of stress in my life.
One way I’ve been combatting the temptation to bite my lips is drinking water! Every time I find myself about to do it, I take a sip of water instead. Slowly but surely, I am going to give my lips a break, and get hydrated too!
- Screen time
At the end of a long day, there’s nothing I’d rather do than flop down on my bed and sink into a good scroll. Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, you name it, I’ll be there. But somehow, whether I lay there for 30 minutes or four hours, I never feel less tired. In fact, my brain usually feels like a pinball machine, bouncing from app to app quicker than I can even realize, and my eyeballs are silently begging me to stop staring at the screen from six inches away.
This habit is probably the hardest to understand, let alone break. But I do know that I always feel refreshed when I purge my phone of these time consuming apps and just let myself be bored for a few minutes. Don’t tell her I said this, but my grandma is right when she tells me to get off my phone!
- Forgetting
At the end of the day, this one really comes down to forgetting to take care of myself. The little things like picking up my room, washing off my makeup, and even brushing my teeth at night can feel like a lot sometimes, so, I simply don’t do them! But when this self-care skipping becomes a subconscious habit, I begin to wonder why I feel so gross and bogged down all the time.
Sometimes, it takes saying out loud, “I can do hard things” for me to get up and do the little things that keep me feeling refreshed. It’s silly, but it works!
All of these little habits, as stated by my wise dentist, might be small indicators of general stress in my life. So, people, it’s extra important to pay attention to your body and your mind and the things they habitually want to do! Give an extra couple minutes to your mind this week to make sure your body doesn’t have to pay the toll of stress.