What I Learned About Habit When I Stopped Smoking.
Three Weeks Into A Quit.
Any change to habit is painful. Could addiction really be just a super-habit in the case of amok with a chemically addicting element to it. In this instance nicotine.
Habit has a physical element to it too. It involves the body’s neurobiology. Much easier to form neural reward pathways if we view the habit as rewarding. It is anticipation of reward that drives all behaviour.
Sometimes the reward is simply the security of a familiar comforting practice. Smoking is a comforting ritual due to the the coded messaging and stories we tell ourselves. The unconscious messages around inhaling toxic dried leaves being somehow cool, calming and stimulating, simultaneously are as important to addiction as the chemical makeup of nicotine.
I found that for fourteen days I was absolutely exhausted and out of sorts. It was horrible. But 22 days in I don’t wake up wanting a cigarette as the sole reason and motivation for getting out of bed. Instead I formed a meditation and smoothy habit. (Of course I did)
Interestingly after keeping that up for a few weeks it has begun to feel strange if I miss a day of meditation and smoothies.
Here’s a kicker. Three days ago I put a blocker on my phone. It has cut out all but the most…
