Re: addictions
i can’t say I’m well versed enough on this topic to dole out advice and offer solutions. But I can give support and personal anecdotes.
Case in point:
(While not about eating and food, I still think this has some sort of relevance)
I had my first cigarette when was 15 yrs old. I worked my way up to a pack a day by the time I got to university (19 yrs old).
Did this for TWENTY YEARS.
Finally, I quit cold turkey in July 2011 when I was 38 yrs old.
I was golden. I didn’t touch a cigarette for 8+ years. Not a single one.
Then, in 2019, high off my success in weight loss probably, armed with an uncontainable confidence, I decided to have a cigarette while on vacation. Cuz i mean, can one really hurt? I could stop, obviously did before. Plus I’m on vacation, gotta live a little, right? I wasn’t even craving it, I just thought it would be no harm no foul since I had absolutely no intention to be a regular smoker again.
I remember my husband tried his best to dissuade me.
Le Sigh.
That cigarette led to another, then another, then me buying a pack saying “I’ll only smoke on this trip”. Then I got back home and I still had some in the pack, so I said I’ll just finish these. Then I bought a pack at home, then another, then another….
Le Double Sigh.
It is now 2023, 4 yrs since I stupidly smoked that effing cigarette, and I’m back to smoking almost a pack a day.
Sometimes abstinence/the all-or-nothing approach is best for some people. I am not that type of person who could just have one cigarette and leave it at that. Should’ve known.
What works for one person, may not have the same result with another. Do what works for you, people.
❤️