Stop Smoking

One week down, seven to go.

Monday and Tuesday are always rough. We’re so busy at work, catching up from the weekend and getting slammed on the phones. The stress level is always high, especially when a lot of people seem to completely forget how to do their jobs on Saturday and Sunday and ask a lot of questions trying to re-learn it all. It’s all part of the job, though. I understand that.

I also understand that stress is not an event, but a reaction to an event. I need to learn to deal with my reactions better while I’m in the process of quitting. Eventually I will get it all under control, but the stressful times always make me think of smoking. Someone brought in donuts for us and someone else brought cookies. I think I tried to deal with my stress by eating, because I had three cookies and a creme-filled stick around the height of the morning  busy period. Everything I’ve read has said that some weight-gain should be expected. Now I realize that it’s not a side-effect of not smoking, but trying to fill the void of smoking with food. Great. I’m fat.

A coworker returned from vacation on Thursday and asked how the non-smoking was going. I have my moments, but  overall, great, I said. He said that was too bad because he had just bought a fresh pack. Prick.

I played games with a couple guys on Friday. One of them is a smoker and the other quit cold-turkey a few months ago. He managed that fine. I heard him tell another coworker a few days ago that the patch is a waste of money. Maybe for him, but not for me. He and I had a chat about smoking while the smoker was outside. Just the basics about how things are going, why I’m quitting, etc. The board games were definitely a nice alternative to the bar. The same guy who quit smoking also quit drinking at more or less the same time. He seems to be really happy with his decision and is dealing with it by finding things to do that don’t surround him with alcohol and smoke. Mad props to him.

I put the patch on around 1:00 PM on Day Thirteen. That day, I decided to put it just above my right hip on my ever-increasing love handle. About five minutes afterwards, I got an intense pain in my bones all the way down my right leg. This was the same pain I felt in my left arm on Day One and again on various days afterwards. This one was much more intense than any of the others, though. I walked around the apartment and stretched a bit and it went away pretty quickly. I didn’t read anything about that kind of pain in the material at Committed Quitters and on the patch’s warnings. I will have to investigate whether or not others have experienced the same thing.

Day Fourteen has been a beautiful day. The lady and I had to go to the electronics store and took our time getting there. We drove along the river for a while with the windows down. It was amazing. It’s also amazing that I will now be able to enjoy being outside with the clean air just as it’s getting really nice outside. I can’t wait for Spring and Summer to get here. It’s going to be a great year.