When I was around eight years old I developed this irritating habit of having to clear my throat continuously. I am sure it had something to do with nervousness, and I could not stop it for the life of me. There was this ever so slight mucous collecting somewhere between my lungs and esophagus, and I just had to get it out. The problem was that even though I would have temporary relief of this aggravating feeling after clearing my throat with pleasure, within a minute or so it would all come back and just start all over again. Whether or not it was (is) real in a physical sense is (was) not important. I could feel it and it had to be released someway. My parents and sisters would get fed up with this incessant noise, and they would lose patience, yelling at me to stop "rattling" as they put it. "Stop that rattling!" I felt bad about it, perhaps even embarrassed about this uncalled for behavior, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Nothing. Feeling insecure or what? One of those childhood habits like biting your nails, picking your nose, blinking your eyes, that nag at you from inside. Scraping the back of your fingers on the ground ten to twenty times just to make sure. Rattle. Even to this day I have the tendency to clear my throat, coughing out loud if necessary, scraping the ground. This habit is aggravated tenfold when I recover from a cold, no matter how minor the illness. Two or even three weeks go by before the "rattle" decreases to below the comfortable threshold. Mucous collects and it must be extricated through coughing or wheezing seizures of compressed lungs and the ribcage thrusting air out by tightening its grip in one quick squeeze of release. "Rattle" and then some much waited for silence and then yet another "rattle." These are strange habits that elicit the release of unwanted pressures from within. Get rid of it or else. Touch the ground another ten times just to make sure.