Quitting Journal (2 Months+)
Hi all, I think this is going to be my final update as things have plateau-ed for me (in a good way) and don't think I will have much to add after being nicotine free for 65 days.
There hasn't been any big changes for me between my six week update and where I stand today at a two days over nine weeks. Cravings are gone and sleep has been great. HRV has been up. Anxiety has been down. Looking back at the initial sprint of quitting cold turkey I can see that I put a lot of eggs into the quitting nicotine basket but in reality quitting nicotine was just one aspect of self improvement amongst others. I hesitate to go too deeply into everything I've done this year because I know it can feel overwhelming to those staring up at the mountain of bad habits but I will give a brief overview of my journey this year:
- I quit alcohol in the beginning of the year. I never had a problem with my alcohol consumption but as I got older hangovers were getting worse and hangovers equal anxiety for me. My initial goal was to quit for 90 days but I've felt so good that I have kept going. Not sure where this will take me but I honestly feel so good in comparison it's hard to want to get back to any sort of habitual alcohol consumption.
- Started therapy for anxiety. Most of my anxiety is health related which is why quitting alcohol and nicotine has had such a positive impact on me. I can't describe the freedom from always thinking I have some form of cancer because I was either hungover from alcohol or overdoing it with nicotine. I wake up and feel good these days and that coupled with my therapy has helped me make huge progress towards being a person who finds joy (but doesn't demand it) in every day life. No longer is my dopamine coming solely from nicotine or alcohol.
- I quit nicotine. Feel free to read through my past journals to hear about the journey but it's not novel or unique in any way. Was overdoing it with a can of Zyns a day (and Juul before that). Quit cold turkey and it sucked really bad for while but then got better pretty quick.
- Meditation: This one is personal and I think everyone who gets something out meditation/mindfulness needs to come to it in their own way so I won't proselytize any more than to say it helps me a lot.
- Exercise. I've always been very active so nothing new to add here but it's as important as the others on this list imo.
That's it! :) It's obviously a lot but I've structured it in a way where I've really only made one big change a month at most. With this foundation, which at this point is just my life and not a struggle to maintain, I can add small things to my weekly routine without feeling like I am creating an entirely new personality from week to week. I'm still early in my journey but I can feel my brain starting to rewire itself and finding happiness in things that aren't buttons that I can press at any given moment.
Peace out. I hope this is the last you hear from me but feel free to reach out if you want to chat or what not.