My nails are pretty weak.

My hands have never been my favorite feature - they are too short and stubby. So, I try to keep my nails looking nice to somehow compensate. It makes sense in my head. However, this is not an easy task to accomplish. It seems that when my fingernails grow to a certain point they then start to chip and break off fairly easily. I have tried to use the nail strengthening polish, but my nails just scoff at that tactic. Also, I tend to pick at them when I'm nervous. I will go into a theater to see a movie and if there was any tension or scary scenes, I walk out with far shorter fingernails. The thing is I don't even realize I'm doing it. My subconscious seems to take my uncertain/nervous/scared/anxious feelings out on my nails without my express permission. I wish I could have a few words with my subconscious mind, but that is pretty much impossible. The subconscious by definition is what happens mentally while an individual is not aware. How can I talk with a part of myself that I am unaware of?

Anyway...I think I have found a semi-solution. My nails stay pretty/longer when they have some sort of polish on them. Of course it has to be a light shade or else they show chippage way too easily, and that would defeat the purpose of perpetual prettiness. (If you want to know how much you use your hands during a regular day, paint your nails a dark shade of red. Trust me.) Thus having nail polish on my nails helps me feel better about my hands. There is also a lingering suspicion in the back of my mind from my childhood. When I was a little girl, I thought that if I chewed my nails while they had nail polish on them, then I could be poisoned by  it if I happened to swallow some. Like I said earlier, it made sense in my head at the time. Therefore, my subconscious is less likely to fiddle with my nails if they have polish on them because it might bring harm to me. It may seem silly, but hey, whatever works. Having pretty-looking fingernails helps me feel pretty. It's the little things in life, ya know?