Do you ever pay attention to your hands. I mean close attention. Not many people do. Our hands are something that we’ve become aware of since we were infants. Some of us, such as myself, are aware of our hands before they come in contact with certain things, ie. trashcans, raw meat, tissues, the toilet, etc. These are the hands that usually get washed several times a day. And sometimes they’re quite dry from being washed too many times a day. I’m guilty of having dry hands. I have a habit of washing my hands at least ten times, if not more, just while I’m cooking or baking.

Our hands come in contact with so many things just in one day that we really don’t pay attention to that. We touch, brush, grab, grasp, tug, pull, push, wipe, squeeze, scratch, pick, hold…the list goes on.

Yesterday I started to make paracord bracelets and keychains for my upcoming book signing event at Fall Fest in September. Last year was my first time going to our Fall Fest here in Bryant, Arkansas which gave me an insight, and a plethora of ideas, on what I could have set up at my booth this year. Though I’m big into crafts I don’t really want to crowd up a table with too many things. I’ll be selling my books at my booth, but I want more than just that at my table. So, I also decided on making paracord bracelets and keychains, as well as bottle cap necklaces to sell.

I found out that even though it isn’t hard to make a paracord bracelet, but it is hard on the hands. It takes roughly five minutes to make one bracelet, but within those five minutes I was breaking in new calluses on my hands. After I made about four bracelets I noticed my hands and fingers were tender to the touch. Looking closely to one finger I saw that I had a nice sized blister. I cleaned it up, put some neosporin on it, then wrapped it in a band-aid, and continued on making more bracelets.

This morning my hands are now quite tender and feel like I have severe arthritis as my fingers ache to bend. They now feel the way they look, rough. I’m not a nail biter, but I am a guilty of chewing on the sides of my fingers, making them raw and irritated. There’s just something about the skin around my nails that just makes me pick and chew at them. Maybe washing my hands many times a day isn’t a bad thing after all.