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Share your quitting journey

Cowgirl UP 69/90

PastTense
Member
8 20 203

I need a reminder today of why I chose to quit smoking. It’s hard right now to put in the work and effort to be smoke-free because I am not seeing the benefits I thought I would by now.

It’s surprising to me that quitting smoking takes so much effort to begin with. Logic says that NOT doing an activity takes less energy than doing an activity. Except for sleeping, maybe. Not sleeping would take more energy than sleeping. But not smoking should take less energy than smoking. It is ceasing an activity. And yet, it takes up a tremendous amount of my energy, even a month into it.

Just developing the tools to quit takes up a lot of band-width. Finding things to do instead of smoking takes a lot of creativity. You can’t just substitute smoking with another activity that you don’t like because there is no incentive for your brain to remember that it has an option. Replacing smoking with push-ups or eating Brussel sprouts, for example. I’m sure there is an odd duck out there who is just looking for the excuse to add sprouts to their day, but I am not her. That’s why food is such a temptation. I like to eat sweet things as much as I like to smoke; so it’s a viable replacement but then there is the whole weight issue, so, no; that won’t work, either.  I see a lot of discussion on the boards about what to do instead. Finding an “instead” option that is at least nominally as satisfying as smoking takes work, and research, and dedication, and learning from our mistakes.

Using the tools takes energy, too. Reminding yourself that the tools are out there to use and using them instead of falling in to deeply ingrained habits. Remaining steadfast to quitting requires an investment of time and energy.

This blog ended up going a completely different direction than I had originally intended. I must be more tired than I thought if I am spending all this energy complaining about all the energy I’m spending. J

I just need to cowgirl up and

Keep the quit

PT

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