Good morning Exer’s!!
I hope this finds you relatively calm in your quits. After all, the best days are the ones where the addict within seems to be sleeping. Although those days also come with a challenge and that challenge is not to get overconfident because the addict within will once again wake up. The key is to not get blindsided when this happens. It’s the unexpected craves that can get us at times.
Still, so long as we understand our quits, we can enjoy the quiet days, thankful that they exist and yet ready for the next screaming fit from the addict within.
Have you ever noticed how quitting seems to be easier for some then it is for others? I think one difference stems from how our minds deal with the missing addiction that has been with us for so long. Some people just seem to feel a big hole in their lives while others seem to be capable of avoiding this part of a quit, seeing the hole for what it really is; the beginning of a new life of freedom.
True, at times it feels like we have to literally rip that addiction out of our brains just to get it to shut up but these are the times to really analyze what your feeling. The first thing to remember is that a crave only lasts a few moments. Everything else that we feel is not a physical reaction but instead is a mental one. We believe that we should be desiring a cigarette and lo and behold, we do desire one.
And one thing is certain. Once we convince ourselves that we desire a cigarette then we will desire that cigarette. At times like these there must be distractions available to us. We have to find ways to soothe a confused mind because if we’re feeling a crave all day long then there’s just no other way to address it.
Me, I visualized my mountain and not just the mountain but what I knew was going to be a wonderful view from the top for you see, when one reaches the summit of Mt. Freedom there’s a kind of calm that ensues. A kind of peace that comes not only from the new found silence of the addict within but also a peace that can come only from understanding myself.
And this internal understanding of ourselves and our addictions is indeed what the summit is because with understanding comes a kind of internal peace that we haven’t felt in a long time. You know, since we decided to pick up this nasty addiction and run with it.
So hang in there my friends. The end of the journey is more then worth it. The peace that comes from the end of an internal conflict is the prize.
Never for a moment think you cannot do this. Of course you can! Never let the addict within convince you to lose sight of the prize. Of the summit. Of the beginning of your new life!!
Onward to freedom!!
Chuck
