Over the past week I have really tried to slowly remove those little devil sticks from my day. Keeping a little log of my triggers and discovering my weak points. I have been successful at removing the first thing in the morning smoke/coffee break. I consider that a victory! I have also worked to eliminate smoking after dinner, completely. Meaning, after dinner there are no more breaks. This is about a 80% success. It is helpful that here in NC, the weather is changing. It is getting colder at night and I don't like being cold, especially my tootsie's. Those feet never get warm once they are cold. So, mother nature will be assisting me on my journey. How often can you say that you have mother nature on your side? Tossing the morning smoke, no longer having the evening smoke along with no smoking at work has me down to about 7 a day. From 15. My quit date is slowly approaching but I feel like I am making progress and allowing myself to adjust to this new way of life.
Now - my real challenge is the car. I have an hour drive to work and an hour drive back home. It's so hard for me to understand how I can go over 8 hours at work and be ok without smoking, but the moment I get in that vehicle the urge to smoke becomes unbearable and I can smoke back to back. I have tried to put off the first one and have even been able to not smoke one at my normal "time to light up" spot. Those spots where you know you have to start smoking so that you can fit in the next two you have planned to smoke before you get home. My normal 4 in an hour drive is down to a sustainable 3 with the occasional 2. So this is my hardest part right now. Any tips on the car ride? I am an avid horrible singer so I use music as much as I can. I am also an extreme overthinker and often times use the ride home to reflect on my day or prepare for my day on the way in. This is a stresser at times, depending on how things are going but there is no way to stop the brain from going 100 mph. If there is, someone please share that because I need that for my overall health as well, not just to stop smoking. There is a fear associated with not smoking on the drive in. I have discovered this as well. Fear that if I don't light up at the rail road track (my normal last smoke marker), I will not be able to make it through the day even though I know that I won't leave work just to smoke so I will survive. I know better, but yet I haven't been able to pull that one off. Maybe I should....I mean, whats the worse that could happen?
I consider myself on-track. November 24th is coming but the smokes are slowly going. Work in progress continues.
