Aside from following EX recommendations, part of the reason I set my quit date for Aug. 6 (the more I type it, the more ingrained it becomes, right?) is because of my wedding anniversary.
Celebration Part 1 happened on Saturday, the day before the special day. It coincided with a fundraiser benefit for a good friend and a special release of a commemorative beer made for our wedding 6 years ago (my wife is a brewer and we designed it together). So, lots of festivities happening.
Part 2 will take place Aug. 1 at a local river spot with a fancy dinner and special musical performance and several friends, some of whom are also smokers. So to be safe, I figured I'd better set the date for AFTER all the fun.
I woke up this morning feeling a little apprehensive. The Big Day is inching closer, and the seeds of doubt are beginning to try to sprout, as I knew I would. I am SO thankful for the EX tracker -- what a powerful tool to weed out those unpleasant seeds!
I sat down, expecting that I would have backslid, especially in light of Saturday's fun. Not only did I not -- I stayed on target on Saturday and EXCEEDED expectations on Sunday (FIVE! I only had FIVE and twice I went four hours without even a *strong* craving! YES!)!
On top of that -- did I mention how much I love this tracker?? -- I noticed that things like drinking only inspire "light" cravings -- things like routines are the toughest ones to fight off. Looking at the the trends all laid out of the last four days, I'm noticing a pattern.
The two-hour itch is actually going to be easier to fight off than I originally thought. The morning routine is where I'm going to struggle the most, I think. I've already begun by delaying my first cigarette of the day -- twice in the last week, I've made it until noon, so it's not longer a morning cigarette. Clever me!
I've also noticed that delaying that first cigarette sets me up for success in delaying the rest. The later I push it back, the fewer cigarettes I end up smoking, no matter what I'm doing. That's really encouraging!
Some of you have sent prayers and words of encouragement in response to my last three journal entries. I can't tell you how much they mean to me. They are making a difference. I've never done this with a community of support before, and something tells me it's going to stick this time.
Here's to being the best version of ourselves!
