Happy Wednesday! It's Roll Call time! This is a weekly event to offer encouragement and camaraderie to those of us in No (Wo)Man's Land, the phase of a quit between days 30-130.
Those of us in NML right now are rolling into the first summer of our quits, and are finding ourselves facing some unexpected triggers and seasonal memories. Here are a few thoughts to remember, things we learned early in our quits but may be taking for granted now:
We haven’t “given up” anything. We have no reason to envy smokers. If anything, we should feel sorry for them.
When you’re in a trigger situation, turn it around. Instead of focusing on the smokers and what they’re doing (smoking), focus on the NON-smokers. They’re enjoying themselves every bit as much; probably more! And they’re not even thinking about smoking, so why should you?
Get out of your head. When one of those bad NML days hits you, don’t dwell, over-analyze, or doubt yourself. Find something to laugh at. Put your shoes on the wrong feet. Blow kisses at strangers in passing cars. Get out of your head and get through the day, because tomorrow you will feel much better.
This is a journey, not an event. When you have a bad NML day, remember that a bad day is temporary. Instead of focusing on that one bad day, think about your journey – how far you’ve come and where you still want to go.
So to all my fellow NML’ers, ENJOY this journey – put the top down, let your hair loose, and crank up the music! Summer in NML is a beautiful place to be!
Let’s hear a SHOUT of pride from everyone in No (Wo)Man’s Land!
For the full blog on NML that Dale (jonescarp) periodically posts, click here: https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007-blog/2011/05/24/no-mans-land-da...