Day 63: Are You Still A Slave To Nicotine?

Day 63: Cravings, cravings, cravings...The good news is I don't have any cravings today.  The bad news?  I've had cravings several times a day, every day for the last four or five days.  With all of that being said, I'm finding out through research that cravings, even 60 days out are completely common.  In fact, cravings several years later are common.  The difference between cravings from week one and week 50?  A few things actually.  For starters, intensity.  Yes, I've had some intense cravings recently, and I'm sure I'll have some more, but every single craving during the beginning stages is intense.  It's one of the biggest reasons why people fail to quit nicotine.  The first few weeks are HELL, especially weeks one and two.  The second difference is my experience and learned ability to fight off cravings.  In the beginning I'd just feel as though I was being tortured.  Now, I expect it, I'm prepared for it, dare I say I embrace cravings? Ok, I won't go that far, but I will say I'm more confident than ever with my "craving busting" abilities.  One major reason is because of Stacy.  She didn't budge when I was terrible at dealing with the cravings.  If it was possible in any way, I'd tell you she fought off many of my early cravings for me.  That's how important she's been to me during this.  I could NOT, and I stress COULD NOT have gotten to day 63 without Stacy.  I'm still not perfect, but with her help, I continue to get better and better at kicking the cravings to the side and going about my day. Oh, by the way, did I mention that nicotine is a VERY strong power and 99.9% of people have no idea what they are getting into when they take that first pinch or puff?  I know I didn't...That's where the tobacco industry has been the most successful.  Their success hasn't been all the money, it's HOW they made the billions and continue to make billions.  They do it by keeping ignorant about how STRONG nicotine really is once it reaches your body.  Yes, they are forced to say "It's bad, yucky."  But they should be forced to say "If you take a pinch of this or a puff of that, WE WILL OWN YOU."

Now onto something important: Food!  We had home made bourbon chicken tonight!  Stacy WILL be putting up the recipe in this blog in the VERY near future!  I can assure you, if you like Chinese take out bourbon chicken, you'll like this!  Hell, you'll love this!  It's so tender with a perfect balance of sweetness and a tiny bit of heat.  Actually, ours has no heat because Stacy isn't a fan of spicy/hot foods lol.  However, that just goes to show you how good it is, we leave out the "hot" part of the recipe (red pepper flakes) and it's still AWESOME! Also, according to Stacy, it's just as good, if not better the next day!  For all the idiots out there, please refrigerate it if you plan on having some the next day.

I don't do this very often, actually, I don't believe I have ever done this, but I truly believe my "Day 61" blog was the most honest and important blog I have written to date.  If you haven't already, PLEASE go back and read that blog.  You may not like it, but you'll have no choice but to agree with it.  Believe me, I did NOT wan't to believe it for many years and I blocked out the "facts" on many occasions! Even if you don't smoke or dip, I'm 10000000000000% sure you know someone who does.  I'm not one of those guys who is trying to shove something down your throat (no pun intended), but I sure do wish someone did this to me many years ago...I truly believe if more smokers/chewers (ME INCLUDED) have the truth directly in front of them, they could no longer blame anyone but themselves for their addiction.  Remember, excuses run open, wild and free when it comes to nicotine addiction.  I know this, I had an excuse for every situation when it came to chewing!

Alight folks, it's time to go watch a movie (looks kinda terrible lol) called "State Of Emergency."  Yes, another zombie movie that looks like it took about $500.00 to make! Good night...