Taking progress photos of your BFRBs can help you stay on track, reduce negative self-talk or motivate you to achieve goals.
It never occurred to me to take pictures of my ragged fingers and skin, which I’m ashamed of. If anything, I used to edit the spots.
But seeing other people’s photos of their BFRB struggles on social media encouraged me to capture my healing journey with its ups and downs.
I photograph the best and worst conditions of my BFRB-prone areas and collect my progress photos in two separate entries in my Notes app.
The BFRB setback jar and BFRB praise jar
The setback images help me as a BFRB coping reminder that I no longer want to be in this condition. When I took these pictures, I was in pain and unhappy with the way my skin looked. I felt defeated, ashamed and weak in these moments.
On the other hand, every time I took the “success” pictures, I felt proud, confident, and happy. Sometimes I even have to pinch myself (in a non-BFRB way) because I can’t believe that the hands I’m looking at are mine!
Document your BFRB healing journey with progress photos
I find the positive pictures more helpful for my BFRB healing journey. When I experience setbacks, and I’m like, “this is my reality; I’ll never have nice nails anyway,” I’ll look at my BFRB praise jar folder and know I can get my fingers and skin to look like this again.
Being on a BFRB healing journey can be daunting because setbacks are part of it, and at times it can feel like you’re not making any progress at all. This is where the BFRB progress photos come in handy.
When I look back on my journey, I see that the damage I am currently doing is not as severe as it used to be or that the “good times” are occurring more frequently. It’s important to stop and look back every now and then to see how far you’ve come. Your future self will be grateful that you didn’t give up and kept going.
How about you? Do you take BFRB progress photos? What helps you better, the positive or the negative ones?
