Kick Your Craving

Something for the weekend?

Today is my fifth completely smoke-free day and the weekend is here. In previous attempts, including last weekend, this is when I’ve had the most difficulty.

I’ve been thinking a little about why weekends seem so much harder than weekdays- why should I happily not smoke in the week, then start craving badly on a Friday afternoon as the weekend looms?

The one thing I can put my finger on is routine. In the week, I know exactly what to expect and have a fairly static routine that I stick to. In the first few days, I had to break the smoking element of that routine, but after a short while it was fairly easy to re-adjust.

The weekends are less structured and also have plenty of idle time for my mind to wander and the “nicotine monster” to start nagging at me. So, I figure a little forward planning for the weekend should ensure I don’t come unstuck. Also, I’m still not drinking for the rest of the month so no alcoholic moments to tempt me to smoke.

Tonight, I may be meeting a friend early on for coffee, then will probably stay home and watch a movie so not much chance of temptation there. Over the rest of the weekend, there are a bunch of free events I’m planning to attend and a comedy gig tomorrow night with a friend who’s also recently given up booze and cigarettes.

If I get the feeling that I may be tempted to smoke at any point, my plan is to use visualisation to imagine successfully experiencing the event without smoking. Apparently, there is research that shows if you imagine being successful at something in advance, walking through each stage in your mind and experiencing the associated feelings and emotions, your chances of success are increased.

If I don’t get a chance over the weekend, I’ll update on Monday.

Photo by mag3737