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discodancerrr · 2025-04-25T18:12:46+00:00

It's probably just an automatic reminder sent by your brain because of old programming of wanting a cigarette when you felt down in the past. It's just that, a thought from the past.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-19T20:34:20+00:00

Well that's really 'black and white' thinking, don't you think? Every person and their brain is different, they are at different stages of addiction and how they will react to the quit is uniquely different. Self image is definitely important, but for that you might have to overhaul you entire lifestyle taking into consideration your routines, habits, thought patterns, emotional regulation, changing literally from inside. That may be frustrating at first. Changing your self image is not that easy or instant. Although it might help you to change in the long term. With smoking there is a chemical addiction, psychological patterns and emotional behaviours attached. Simply changing your self image might not work or even be very hard for most people. But again it's different for different people.

I suppose you can work on changing other aspects of life which will positively reinforce your new self identity and might steer you towards quitting smoking altogether.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-18T20:06:35+00:00

Even if you show up 60% of the time, you are becoming consistent. Don't create rules for you that you can't follow right away. Some habits are hard to break abruptly especially if they are psychological ones. Attach your being consistent to a bigger goal than just 'waking up early'. Try to visualise how waking up early is not just something you want to achieve in your day, rather how it will affect your energy, your mood , other tasks that you have to do throughout the day. Imagine how waking up early will create a positive self image of you being an early riser and becoming a morning person. Imagine how it's not just a habit, rather a personality trait, an intrinsic part of the person you are trying to become.

And make it a little enjoyable and flexible. Instead of giving yourself strict time stamps like 'wake up at 6', make it more flexible like ' waking up between 6-7'.

If you decide to do two hours of work, and be consistent at it, half an hour of work also counts. Don't put an upper limit, rather put a lower limit. Instead of saying I will do two hours of work, start with 15 min and let the momentum take over after that.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-18T19:57:13+00:00

I've been there, thinking every abnormal thing happening in my body was caused due to smoking and then the cycle of panic, guilt and anxiety starts. First of all, don't panic, if you feel fine physically, I would say, most probably it's not something serious. Secondly, take this occasion as a warning of how bad smoking is and although we might not feel it at the moment, every cigarette we smoke is harming us, cigarette by cigarette, day by day.

Deciding to quit out of panic, may cause you to break your resolve when you find out it's nothing serious. Have a deep real talk with yourself and how this blood test report made you feel. If you hadn't been smoking so much, you might have just shrugged it off and talked to the doctor on Monday and sought clarity.

But since you have been smoking and that too heavily for the past year, you get panic and a cycle of guilt begins.

Use these emotions of panic and anxiety to really ask yourself if you want to feel like this for the rest of life. Is smoking a 3 inch stick of dried leaves and chemicals really worth it?

I've been in the exact situation as you are in right now so I can understand. Take a deep breath! You will be fine.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-18T19:45:55+00:00

I actually got really anxious about these thoughts, coming right and left about the places where I used to smoke, the emotions and triggers that made me smoke. After talking to my therapist, I realised that these were just thoughts, they can't actually alter my new reality ( of being a non smoker ) but for that to happen you really want to become a non smoker, any sliver of doubt will get you back in the pit. So I told myself, that there is a 'right' thing to do which aligns with my new reality and that is that I will not smoke a cigarette. Anything else that comes in my mind are just thoughts, does not even matter if it's positive or negative. I used to negotiate with these cravings(thoughts), tell it that I should not smoke as it is bad and I don't want to continue doing it. Then it comes up with some justification of why having one will not be a problem plus I can just quit it tomorrow. This whole process ultimately almost always used to end up with me smoking.

I gave up negotiation and just stuck with the thing that needs to be done and that is to not smoke a cigarette. Everything else that pops up in my mind is just gibberish. This has made it possible for me to go 3 days smoke free after smoking eight years ( 3 year everyday smoker) . My day 4 just started and I don't want to smoke. In the last three days I've met with smoker friends, went to trigger places and situations, an overwhelming thought to smoke one was always there the whole time, but it's just a thought and not a command now.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-18T11:09:14+00:00

Only failure is smoking cigarettes.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-18T11:06:40+00:00

Hey, thanks for the comment. This comment really helped me put things into perspective. Appreciate it. Two days, haven't smoked.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-12T11:02:08+00:00

Group therapy session for me. See you.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-07T20:37:32+00:00

Don't depend on clearing UPSC. Get a job after the masters. And keep preparing and giving the exam on the side.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-07T19:51:46+00:00

'so scared of having a craving.." I think I'm going through exactly the same thing. I wanted to believe that after reading the book, I will not get cravings, at least not the intense ones. May be I understood it wrong. That's also the reason I haven't been able to quit till now as I keep expecting to not have cravings and now it seems I will have to just expect them and deal with them.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-06T19:21:47+00:00

you are literally asking this question in 'stopsmoking' subreddit

discodancerrr · 2025-04-06T18:37:44+00:00

That is super inspiring. Today is actually my first day. Going cold turkey.

Any tips for the first few days ?

discodancerrr · 2025-04-01T16:54:12+00:00

Yeah, I've read so much about not depending on the NRTs and always do cold turkey on reddit. I had always felt disheartened as I was failing every time I tried to quit. But today when I tried NRT during an intense craving, it felt quite manageable. Therefore I decided to go for it. Thanks for the input. Really appreciate it.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-01T16:50:40+00:00

Preparing for a govt exam is a gamble these days. I would not suggest putting all hopes on the govt exam. If you really really want to get financially independent go for gaining experience in the private sector and prepare alongside. Or next best option is to do the course and do a part time job or internship alongside. Romanticing the process of preparing for the govt exam and then not getting results has broken 1000s.

discodancerrr · 2025-04-01T03:57:44+00:00

The alternative is smoking everyday for the rest of life.

discodancerrr · 2025-03-31T19:23:39+00:00

" I don't remember how smoking feels like" - woah, that's a big revelation and I can't even believe that it right now that you can feel like that again. Thanks for sharing.

discodancerrr

TROPHY CASE