I wrote this for BCP Prompt - Addiction, a weekly prompt to get the creative juices flowing.
Sorry, I've been busy as of late.. with summer school, and summer in general really. Not to mention a whole host of other bullshit that I must contend with. 🙃 Posting and commenting is a bit sparse these days, what can ya do? LoL.
Anyhow.. I wrote this up about my one addiction that doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Yes, I am puffing on one right now.. in case you were wondering.
I have tried more times than I care to remember, to quit. I've tried everything under the sun. Short of a desert island and no outside intervention, it is a lost cause.
I can't afford a private island.. just sayin! 😄
I am not immune to addiction, and just like everyone else.. I have my vice. Smoking.
So let's get it goin on shall we?
Dear Nicotine
My beloved, my dear dear nicotine
You make everything seem serene
First puff of the day is a dream
End of day I just want to scream
Way back in the day when I was a kid
All the parents smoked like chimneys
Cowboys hittin the Boros off the grid
Tv doctors said there'll be no disease
It was Kool to smoke back then
From born-again to businessmen
Everyone was hooked and screwed
Puffing on their way to decrepitude
From Joe Camel to Winston class
Only the weak didn't carry the pack
I wish I had then taken a hard pass
I wouldn't now be on Marlboro crack
I've tried about every drug out there
I have quit them all except for you
Still addicted let the reader beware
Don't start the habit it spells doom
© 2022 @inthenow
Have A Lovely Day
I used one of those 1 hitters that looks like a cigarette to quit.. pack it with weed.. smoke.. repeat until you forget you wanted a cigarette.. of course I still crave them but not enough to smoke one..
That's it hey... You still get cravings forever but you just nod at it and move on. 15 years on I get a craving once or twice a year now I just laugh at. Like my brain forgets I quit for a microsecond
Yeah, If I didn't associate everything I do, with smoking.. I might have a chance. Smoking weed makes me smoke cigs like a freight train lolz. Thanks my friend, hope you have a killer weekend. 😃
Awesome.
I quit 15 years ago after 15 years smoking. Hated being beholden. You really need giant balls to kick it. It is possible. Just don't vape .. it's just as bad.
I had my own tricks of you are interested, but don't want to offer advice unwanted. Xxx
Giant Balls.. hmmm? 😄 Sure, if you got some trix to share.. let it rip. I am willing to entertain all advice, it may help. At the very least it could help someone else. You never know.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend. 😃
Okay here goes. I have been thinking about you alot as vapes are so dangerous as well!
I tried to give up many times, but in the end my husband and I settled on a few tricks that worked better than anything. You might have heard them before and by no means do I want to be preachy as I know how no one likes a lecture and every person has to do this journey themselves and it's different for everyone.
I think the first thing for me was not to talk about it like all the last times and just do it. Instead of saying that I was giving up, I just kept telling myself over and over: I don't smoke. Stopping that identification was key.
The next thing was just internalizing the fact that nicotine doesn't stay in your system that long, so what you are kicking is actually neural pathways (the same ones that 15 years later have me checky pockets for a lighter after dinner once in a while). That is, it is intensely psychological and that PISSED ME OFF. Brain, fuck off - I am controlling you not the other way around. So reaching for a vape is still 🚬. What you need to do is recognise that brain kick and LET IT PASS, in the wisdom of Buddhist masters. And sometimes your brain is kicking you really badly so you have to smoke to shut it up - I know, it's Soo intense.
So you just need to distract yourself. Get up, have a glass of water. Go for a walk. Take the bins out. Anything until the feeling passes. Tidy the house. Move to a different room. Go to the loo. Whatever. Just wait til it passes. Because that feeling will pass, over and over, until it's fewer and fewer and fewer in between. And if you do cave and smoke, don't finish it - and start again being a non smoker.
Do things that trick the brain. So if you are used to having a fag on waking, change the bed around or sleep on other side or something. Don't sit in same chair you'd normally smoke in. We moved countries at the time ahaha.. so that helped too.
Also, I bought a big bag of licorice root to chew. It gives you something to do with your mouth, and it helps regulate cortisol or the stress response. My husband ate alot of those pickled peppers from Aldi.. like a LOT hahaha. Find a nibble that works for you.
Anyway I wish you luck. The fact you wrote about it tells me it's your journey to give up and honestly it's the best thing not to be spending so much money and risking your health and making other companies rich just because you can't get a grip on the sheep tracks in your brain.
I feel I should say I was a chain smoker too... It was totally nervous energy for me. I reckon these days i would add meditation more to help but it Wasn't where I was at then..breathing exercises are great too... Square breathing or alternative nostril breathing (you can Google).
Anyway I hope you got to the end and I hope it helps xx may the force be with you!
Thanks for the tips and suggestions, much appreciated. Yes I've been at this for quite awhile too, over double your time. :D
Good luck my friend. X
You write, so beautiful and yet full of funny comments. "I wouldn't now be on Marlboro crack." That makes me laugh every time. 😄🤣
Thanks my friend for the awesome comment, and the read.. very much appreciated!
Yeah I try use a lil bit of humor in my writing to lighten the mood when necessary. You and yours have a blessed weekend. 😀
Fantastic way of approaching addiction topic. I can see the struggle of quitting it and I can empathize with that 😁
Thanks for reading! 😃 Yes, the struggle is real my friend. Have a good weekend.
Quitters never win, just saying as I add to my spit cup.
Right on.. well we can't go down that road. 😂 Have a great weekend my friend.. hope to catch ya at the tables.