For a year now, I have gotten myself into a habit. Acquiring new habits that I need to later break, are not my goal. Tomorrow, I will go through the process of breaking this habit.
Here’s what I’ve learned from empty nest syndrome and quitting smoking:
I will feel miserable for a while.
Smoking was really bad for the first week. Crappy for about a month and it was literally 10 years before I felt like there was not still a void. Not enough to pick one back up, it’s just that I never found a replacement that did what cigarettes did. As far as empty nest went, that was really awful. I was in state of tears for about 6 months. I was very worried about my future. I was patient with myself though, because as a single mom, I knew going in it would be hard. But knowing and actually going through something are two different things.
Breaking this habit will not be easy. It’s a battle of head vs heart, so I have to look at this pragmatically and make a plan for when my heart starts to waver.
So, here’s the plan:
I understand I will feel bad for a while. Lost. Without focus. This will pass. This will flare up again. This cycling may happen 50 times the first day or it may not start till a week later.
During these moments, I will acknowledge how I feel, allow myself those feelings for a limited amount of time, then I will pull out a list of positive affirmations that I will have at the ready for exactly for this purpose.
When I have a negative thought about how I got into this habit, I will stop myself and replace it with a positive affirmation.
When I am tempted to involve myself in the habit, I will have a list of things to do instead.
I know that not only can I break my habit, I will break my habit. I also know it won’t be easy and It’s okay to feel uncomfortable.
There’s freedom on the other side.
Namaste,
Love,
Pamela
Pamela Devine 