You quit smoking New Year’s Eve. And you are thinking about caving.
It’s been hard. Like math.
It’s cool. People made out of a lot tougher shit than you folded like lawn chairs way before now. I mean, I had serious concerns about you ability to do this in the first place. I figured you’d only make it like 12 hours. But here you are 7 days in, and feeling like total shit.
The kids are a pain, work is stressful, she said she wouldn’t, he said he would, you really haven’t eaten today, it’s rainy, it’s cold, it gets dark early, they made fun of your pants, you stepped in dog shit, deadlines are looming, there was a line at the mall, you been passed over, your mother didn’t call, your mother did call, you ate too much, you are getting the flu, the milk is spoiled…
It’s cool, I understand. This is tough. Way tougher than you.
…
…
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Motivated yet?
1.5 years and counting. Stay strong. You can do this.
Absolutely perfect. It gets bumpy and rougher the first few stretches before it gets better, but you and I know that it *does* get better. It can be done. I bet this helps someone, Nate. Very cool.
10 years 8 days and counting.
What you said goes for any kind of addiction. Video game addiction, online addiction, caffeine addiction, couch addiction, etc. There are an infinite number of excuses for people returning to the addiction. I think the only way to succeed is to recharacterize the addiction as an obstacle or an opponent. Putting people in the mindset that they want to win against it will bring out their competitive side and give them what they need.
All that aside, why would our government torture people when they could just addict them to tobacco and then cut them off and induce withdrawal symptoms? “If you tell us where your leaders are, we’ll give you a cigarette.” From what I hear of the withdrawal experience, it can be pretty bad, and I praise anyone who has succeeded.
Hey, just happened to stop by your site..i was actually searching for information on why my allergies worsened when i stopped my moderate smoking (3 packs/week, 1-2 more on the weekends), about a year ago. Anyway, I read through this blog and just thought that it was brilliant the way you chronicled each step along the way..and your challenge on 01/07 was great. A couple of the things you mentioned that really helped me were:
1. dating: I realized that most women don’t like kissing an ashtray…i was forced to buy the gum when we’d spend time together, I realized that I liked the gum almost more than I did the smokes..and this indirectly led me down the path of quitting.
2. sports: I began training in MMA fighting and realized that my endurance suffered due to my habit.
3. The realization that, when I started smoking, I regarded it as something that was temporary, and glamorously youthful, that fit with the “rockstar” persona that I wanted to adopt…at age 28, I realized that the “temporary” was quickly becoming a permanent fixture in my daily life.
4. I moved to the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago: and this re-affirmed to me that most young-middle aged successful, healthy, happy people DO NOT smoke. In Chicago, you can’t smoke in buildings, and no-one smokes on the street. The sidewalks are amazingly cigarette free for the most part. This toook the glamour out of it for me.
All together, this perfect storm of health, self-concept, social perception, and regard for the woman that I loved, forced me into a corner where I had no choice but to quit. Honestly, my decision was quick, I loaded up on the gum, kept busy and refused to think about it. Success.
Great story!! Keep sharing that with people.
Whoa! Thanks everyone. For some reason my blog stopped emailing me. So I just saw some of this.
Thanks for reading!!