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Boo Quit Date: March 9, 2016 Posted December 8, 2019 One of the greatest gifts the process of quitting gave me was the opportunity to practice detachment on a daily basis. I started thinking about this earlier today after hearing Jocko Willink talk about detachment on a podcast. In fact, the moment I figured out how to separate myself from whatever emotions and thoughts I was having in the moment was the turning point in my quit. It was a struggle before I figured it out. After I figured it out, it has been nothing but smooth sailing. The cravings didn't magically go away when I turned the corner. The odd thought about "the good ol' days when I was a smoker" still popped up from time-to-time. The basic tenets of addiction were still there, I just changed how I reacted. Instead of surrendering to the chaos and allowing the emotional upheaval to dictate my actions, I just took a step back and observed what was really going on. Identified my thoughts as nothing more than a temporary feeling born of decades of addiction. Detaching yourself from the self-defeating thoughts and emotions of addiction allows you to observe what's really going on and make wise decisions. The cigarette is an inanimate object. You are not a smoker. You are someone who used to smoke. Your thoughts have as much or as little power as you give them. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/13326-the-power-of-detachment/

intoxicated yoda 31 Posted yesterday at 07:35 PM honestly...even tho i've been quit for a few weeks, the cigs are still in control. I'm still an abstaining smoker. Most of my thoughts are dominated by the quit but that's okay. it has to be this way. my quit is a garden and right now it's full of weeds so it's going to take all my focus and effort to get all the weeds pulled. then once all the weeds are pulled it's going to take daily monitoring for new sprouts of weeds so i can dig down and find the roots. later it will take weekly monitoring for more weed sprouts so i can dig down further and get the rest of the roots. and then when i've gotten all the roots out and all the weeds are gone and there are only beautiful blooming flowers in my quit garden i still have to be vigilant in monitoring for weeds cause seeds will blow in on the wind from who knows where and they will pop up when and where i least expect them. but that is life. the garden, whatever it is be it quitting smoking or playing piano, must be tended. to do otherwise is to stop living. Link to original blog entry: Who's in Charge? https://www.quittrain.com/blogs/entry/1050-whos-in-charge/