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Share your quitting journey

Changing your thinking

JonesCarpeDiem
Member
2 12 4
‎04-12-2016 09:45 AM

I go out nearly every day with my buddy Steve for an early dinner (3pm) Early dinner because of my acid reflux.

We normally get food on the way to the beach and eat while we people watch and I take pictures of the sea and sky.

So yesterday, he says "you want to go to McD's?" and I say ok. We get to the drive thru and the menu board has changed so much that it's hard for me to see the selections so, I decide I'll eat when I get home.

He hasn't eaten all day so begins eating his hamburger as soon as he pulls away saying he needs to stop at the ATM to get cash for gas. So we get to the ATM about a mile away and he starts trying to finish the last 1/2 of his burger (like he was going to set a record) so he can go to the ATM and I say, "Are we in a hurry? Why don't you take your time." (he has COPD about as bad as you can get. never smoked) but once the food goes down the wrong way, it almost kills him) So he slows down and I sit and take pictures of the Hibiscus flowers through the windshield blooming right in front of us

You have to catch yourself and say, "why am I doing this?"  to begin changing the outcome.

This is particularly true when quitting smoking.

Get off autopilot and smell the flowers! (or take pictures of them)

12 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.