Today I was going to Sam’s Club to get my medication filled and my car died on a busy highway with high traffic. There is a lot of construction being done on that highway so there was nowhere to even pull off to roll to a total stop on the left side of the road. So I finally came to a stop with a really big truck behind me and an anxiety attack wanted to start up with me and I could feel my heart beating so hard it felt a drummer bounding on the drums. I put my car in park when my car finally stopped completely and then got it started again but my anxiety wanted to take off like a rocket then. So there I was in my car yelling out loud to myself you can do this stay calm you’re not going to have an anxiety attack breathe woman in and out in and out relax when you breathe out. I told myself out loud again and again you’re going to be ok you can do this just breathe in and out slowly stay calm you are going to make it. I could feel my anxiety getting better by doing this and I finally got to Sam’s club. Then when I was waiting for my medicine I realized I did not even want a cigarette after having my car do this to me and having an anxiety attack wanting to start up with me I calmed myself down without a smoke and I thought wow I have come a long way to do this. In the past I would have wanted to smoke my brains out over something like this but now I am in control of bad situations not my addiction. All I have to do is stay calm and talk to myself out loud because I sure did not have anyone with me to calm myself down just me. I keep telling new people you can do this and today after saying this for years this is the first thing that popped into my head to tell myself when in a crisis and it worked. So my advice to everyone still is you can do this keep telling yourself you can every time you want to smoke or even have a crisis going on.
