Creating the Not Smoking Habit

It’s been a week since I have decided to quit smoking, and to be quite honest, it hasn’t been that hard. I still do struggle a little bit when I get into my car, have a cup of coffee, finish a meal, have a martini, or sit home watching TV. Actually, that seems like a lot of struggling. Since I still struggle, I’ve decided that I have to identify when I get the craving and what is actually causing the crave. For the most part, I believe it’s simply a habit that has been reinforced with a nicotine addiction.

For example, I get in the car and I want a cigarette. It’s an automatic feeling that washes over me like some mild medicine kicking-in. It’s a feeling I get during those other moments too. I guess you could say that my body is telling me that this was the time I smoked and it is expecting me to have a cigarette, darn it! If I ignore it, the craving eventually goes away only to rear its ugly head at the next designated crave-time. Recognizing those trigger points is half the battle and I believe that as time goes on, those cravings are going to diminish.

So far I have been able to resist these urges. In fact, I am craving a cigarette right now. Rather than smoke, I thought it would be a good idea to write down what I was feeling. Instead of smoking or writing, I could be in the kitchen right now stuffing my face with a piece of very delicious apple butter pie Heather made today. It’s a recipe she found that someone’s grandmother made for them because they didn’t like pumpkin pie. It resembles pumpkin pie in consistency but is slight darker in color and a bit sweeter. Boy, I know I could eat plenty of that. But I won’t because I’ve already gained two pounds and I don’t want to replace my smoking habit with an eating habit. (I’ll ask her for the recipe and post it at a later date)

I know I can do this and it’s not just the money anymore. My car does smell nicer and looks cleaner. My teeth look whiter already. I actually feel physically better. My chest doesn’t feel as tight and I bet my blood pressure has gone down. I’ll check that and post it later. I know it’s only been a week but every little bit of positive reinforcement helps.

The best way to provide positive reinforcement is to do those things that trigger the smoking craving and then just don’t smoke. And you need to do them over and over again. Your mind will get use to not smoking, instead of wanting to smoke, when you do those things. I think I’ll start with having a martini. Hey, I gotta start somewhere.

First Time for Everything

Well here I am sitting at this PC with a million ideas flowing through my head and none of them are reaching down to my fingers. It's kind of funny that I would decide to start a blog and quit smoking at the same time. Perhaps I am looking to replace one habit with another. Or maybe I am looking to fill up the time I spent smoking with the time I'll spend blogging. I think it's probably just timing. I've been thinking about blogging for a while and the quit-smoking thing was a spur of the moment action. That is, if you can call having to decide between buying a carton of cigarettes or putting gas in the car a "spur of the moment" thing.

It's been three days and I am not smoking because I can't afford to smoke. It's that simple. And that makes it easy. I've been not doing things my whole life simply because I couldn't afford to do them. I've never been on a cruise, purchased caviar at the supermarket, or driven home in a shiney, brand-new corvette. That's why I think it's easier for me to quit smoking for financial rather than health reasons.

That's right folks. I didn't stop smoking because I disliked it or to improve my health. I didn't do it to make my car and home smell better. No, it was simply a financial decision. When it takes 50 bucks to fill my car with gas every week, how can I justify spending 35 dollars on a carton of smokes? And that's only if I drive to Delaware, which by my calculations cost me about $9.50 in gas. I knew how bad smoking was for me yet that never stopped me. But hit me in the wallet and boy do you get my attention!