Day 66: June 18, 2007, and Today's TIP

I'm still nicotine free. Father's day was great. I had a terrific time with the family. Today has been very interesting. I feel like someone has kicked the legs out from under me. I am just completely exhausted. It's not that I did anything unusual over the weekend. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I didn't do anything to over exert myself in any way.

I'm hoping that this "exhaustion" is just another part of the nicotine cleansing process or just my getting accustomed to the change in the weather. My mind has been relatively at ease with respect to nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings. I haven't experienced any major psychological "stress" triggers over the past few days.

Perhaps I've been focused on too many other things. Smoking is the furthest thing from my mind right now. In fact writing this BLOG today has forced me to even consider thinking about my Nicotine QUENCH Plan. To be clear, I usually look forward to updating the journal it's part of celebrating my current success.

I recall writing about stress management some time ago. Typically, for a smoker, the cigarette is an important stress management tool. For a non-smoker, the process is radically different and obviously doesn't include cigarettes. What did the cigarette do for you when you were stressed? What did they do for me?

Today's TIP - Stress Management - Cigarettes don't solve problems.

I think cigarettes just forced me to take a moment and think about the current circumstances. While I was smoking I would actually be thinking of ways to solve the problem. Sometimes though you simply need to take a break and let your subconscious mind do some thinking for you.

Have you ever tried to solve a problem and then just gave up in frustration only to find out a few hours, or maybe even days, later that a solution just seems to pop into your head? Really tough Sudoku puzzles can do this to you. I've had some puzzles that just seemed impossible and then after setting it down for a while, sometimes the solutions just seem to jump off the page.

I'm sure you've heard the expression, "Can't see the forest for the trees". Well, it simply means you just have to stand back sometimes to re-align your thinking.

Cigarettes don't solve problems. In fact, they create more problems than they solve. Many a cigarette has been known to start more fires than they put out - literally and figuratively speaking.

Remember: Cravings are Temporary - The Benefits of Quitting Last a LIFETIME.

Feel free to send me an email at nicotineQUENCH@INBOX.com