Chewing My Nails Past The Bone
Is that nail polish?
No, it’s my blood.
All of it?
Yes, all of it. It’s all my blood. It’s all my blood.
You seemed disgusted or worried or maybe both.
I get it.
It’s unsightly.
It’s unsanitary.
It’s unseemly.
It’s not like I want to make myself bleed.
This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten down on my nails.
It doesn’t hurt as much as it looks.
I’ve gotten use to how they look.
It’s only painful when I go too far,
but what is too far when you’re always pushing your boundaries?
Fuck, I’m biting my nails in between sentences like I can’t control myself.
I can’t control myself.
I’ve tried to quit more times than I can remember.
My mother attempted to stop my habit at the start.
Using everything from mittens to bitter tasting nail polish to end my compulsion,
but I was unstoppable.
I would even bite my baby doll’s nails when mine weren’t sufficient.
I couldn’t get enough.
I blame my parents for taking the bottle away too soon and leaving me with this fixation.
To be honest,
sometimes I blame them for my anxiety.
Maybe I wouldn’t be such a big ball of nervous energy and fidgety hands if someone was there to guide me through my stress;
instead of discrediting any negative emotion based on my young age.
I wish you could’ve seen all the signs.
Maybe you weren’t looking,
or didn’t want to see my early manifestations of anxiety and depression.
Stepping back, it all seems so obvious to me especially since I had OCD.
Maybe you thought it was just a nasty habit I had of picking my nails,
but it was just the start of me picking myself apart.
Maybe you thought I’d grow out of it,
but I grew into it.
I grew into my anxiety
and it fits one size too small.
12.7.16-3.17.17












