Justis et al: - if you really want to stop smoking, there is a lot of help available nowadays from doctors. It wasn't around for my husband and he didn't really smoke all that much, just since he was 15 and then a pipe for many years , but he began to smoke cigarettes thanks to a snooker buddy and he smoked more than I knew in that last, stressful year.
I am just breaking an addiction of sorts, namely: eating the same foods day in - day out - well not really, but similar, traditional meals, same breakfast, similar light dinners (often just a sandwich), but discovered a diet which turns on the metabolism by having food from different food groups (but similar within one day) over a 4-day period and then again, but different varieties - and by Jove it works. I have to think that hard and fact-check stuff and find it in the shops, and check out alternatives, that simply thinking about food breaks up the day into strict breakfast, lunch and dinner and managing it is an achievement in itself - and self-rewarding.
Exercise is part of that plan also - in my case regular gardening work, come rain or shine (and I have a painting job waiting) and now it seems I will have a dog to exercise part of next week - so 'walkies'.
I am thinking it might be similar with any addiction - make up a set of rules; i.e. follow some basic health rules every day, make sure you eat well - not too much - and take moderate exercise (physical work counts as exercise) and you will find:
you feel better
you have more to think about and do, which distracts you from the addiction
and eventually feeling better becomes self-rewarding and the need to light that cigarette gets less.
Having a project which is interesting is also a great distraction when fighting an addiction.
HC politics threads: I already know who to avoid - it is pointless entering a discussion with a number of people on HC, I am now often amused when reading some threads, when formerly I would get upset.
I hear similar arguments from some of my friends and usually have some sort of an answer, because I have been 'primed' by the arguments on HC. Quite useful. I have also become quite expert at fact-checking.
Tau
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