LSNP

.... Everything?

Ok. So I have a plan. Continue abstinence for two to three weeks (as a DECISION to improve my life).

Quit caffeine after a month or so without alcohol.

Get a script for Chantix.

Quit smoking after being off alcohol and caffeine for approximately two months.

Does that sound like a sound plan? Or am I attempting too much too soon? Thoughts?

Dee74

Plans are good - but life does have a way of getting in the road LOL

I'd see how you feel at the end of your month

D

Reset

I like the goals for the long term but I'd take things one step at a time. That's just me though- perhaps I'm not as strong as you are.

SSIL75

putting a timeline on abstinence was always useless for me. That's a 2-3 week period you have to plan your next bender.

Bikeguy

For me it's one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time. Good luck in your journey!

fulminouscherub

I kicked nicotine at 60 days sober, so it's certainly doable. I think having made up my mind to permanently abstain from alcohol AND nicotine made it easier. And I know that as long as I don't take a single drink or smoke a single cig, it will remain easy.

I limit my caffeine and have thought about quitting to lessen my occasional anxiety, but haven't made up my mind yet.

Ranger

LSNP - FWIW, I believe the very fact you are planning bodes well for your future. Excellent job.

You have a great framework of positive, "macro" changes. Have you fleshed out any specifics of an abstinence plan? The sun might be shining on your sobriety now, but the odds are a storm or two is on the way. Nothing you can't weather, of course, but now's the time to prepare.

LSNP

This is a good point and I appreciate the response. However, I miscommunicated. I wasn't really time-lining the period of abstinence as much as I was giving myself that much time before attempting the quit of something ELSE.

LSNP

Actually, it was pretty icky today...... felt very blah and could have used a drink... so I understand what you are getting at. I am trying to plan now, I guess, and prepare as best I can.

I really HAVE to stop smoking. It is going to kill me if I don't.

LSNP

Way to go! Thanks for sharing. Did you find that you used the same type of coping techniques with nicotine that you did with alcohol?

Zebra1275

Your plan has a lot of big goals. But there are probably dozens of short term steps you need to complete to achieve those big picture goals.

An analogy . . .

It sounds like your goal is to walk 1000 miles. That's a big, long range goal. An ancient Chinese proverb says that a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. There are a whole bunch of steps necessary before you hit the 1000 mile mark, and I think there are a whole bunch of steps you need to achieve before you accomplish your bigger goals. Maybe you have all that figured out already.

Good Luck.

LSNP

This is a great analogy. Thank you. I don't have anything figured out yet but I have been practicing coping strategies. I deep breathe when I begin to feel anxiety, I try to self-affirm more often, I am trying to face FEAR head-on, particularly because it is learned fear from trauma and totally reactive and irrational... and I am, most of all, trying very hard to live in the NOW and not in the past (which I am finally beginning to accept is something I cannot change) or the future (because what it holds is anybody's guess - I tend to "predictive" think and lean toward the worst scenario, I think to maintain control.... which is a joke because I just freak myself out over a black hole).

So... if these are the steps, then I guess I am trying to take some. I have a major event in my future that will re-open wounds and expose me to some of the same trauma that played a big part in getting me where I'm at... and I want to face it, this time, with self-confidence and strength instead of fear and self-loathing.

I'll get there, I hope. And it will be well worth the trip.