So I wanna start this journal off by stating how much of a help EX community has been this week. Joining this community was really just something that I did in passing when I decided to quit, but the positive messages and comments that I've received from other members has been really useful in keeping me on track. To anyone reading this who has recently quit or has their quit date coming up, I highly recommend sharing your journey with this community. I've only been a member for about 2 weeks but the support has been overwhelming.
This week has come with a set of unexpected side effects to quitting. I'm at a point no where I am nicotine free, but my body is still adjusting to that so I've been experiencing constipation, acne flare ups, insomnia, chest pains, coughing and sneezing a lot this week. Those symptoms have started to subside, but I have to say they really caught me off gaurd. As far as cravings go, it's gotten a lot easier. Last week I was doing a lot of mindfulness practices to work my way through cravings, but I'm at a point now where working through them has just become habit. Whenever I have a craving I just turn on my stopwatch to see how long it lasts. It's something I started doing last week, but it's now become a psychological thing. By putting on my stop watch, I am commited to testing how long my cravings last rather than smoking. It's also helped to know my triggers and be constantly aware of them. Like when I have a day where I have nothing planned I tell myself when I wake up "I'm going to get bored at some point today and that is going to make me want to smoke, all I have to do is restrain myself for 2 to 10 minutes." Talking myself through my cravings before they even arrive has become a really valuable practice for me.
I was feeling a bit brave this week and decided I my test out some of my triggers just to prove that I'm above them. I made no effort to avoid places or things that would normally make me want to smoke and I even went out drinking the other night just to prove to myself that I can have a good time on a night out without smoking the whole time. It was difficult at time, but overall very liberating. In quitting, I've also been learning new ways to reward myself aswell. Oftentimes when I had a long day of working I would reward myself with cigarettes throughout the day and at the end of the day, but I'm now discovering cheaper and healthier ways to reward myself. Maybe instead of smoking I'll buy a $2.50 focaccia bread from my favourite health food store or put on a face mask. I'm learning that there are a million better ways to reward myself that actually make me feel good, and that's probably the biggest positive I've experienced this week.
Last week I was away from Brighton (where I live) where lots of people smoke. I was anxious about coming back and being encouraged to smoke again, but I managed to handle that challenge quite well. Soon, I'm going to be going back to work in hospitality which is an even bigger trigger for me. Working in hospitality was one of the way that I justified smoking a lot because it was "practical". In other words, being a smoker means that I got more breaks. That is likely going to be the biggest challenge I've encountered so far. I'm not sure how to approach that just yet, but I'll figure it out. My last post asking people how they deal with seeing other people smoke was really useful, any other advice would be really great.
