Join Me as I Fight the Good Fight Against Nicotine

Day 6
Cigarettes Today: 0
Chantix Side Effects (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst): 5
Mood: Annoyed at work/Fine at home

This blog officially starts day 6 of Chantix in my third (or is it fourth now?) venture to quit smoking. As I didn't really like to write about my quitting smoking struggles on my personal blog, I decided to start a quick, bullet-point blog that will list daily (or as close-to-daily-as-possible) what I did instead of smoking.

When you consider that each cigarette takes about 5 minutes to smoke, not to mention the time it takes to walk to a "smoking area," if you're at a pack-a-day habit, that's 100 minutes out of your life each day. Part of the joy of not smoking is finding what to do with those 100 minutes each day.

Here is what I did today instead of smoking:
1. Listened to my Ipod at work (specifically albums I hadn't listened to in a while)
2. Rearranged my cubicle (well, I did this yesterday, but I didn't have this blog yesterday)
3. Took dogs on a walk
4. Watched American Idol
5. Started a blog
6. Took a bath*

Yesterday my co-worker invited me outside for a cigarette. When I told her I was quitting again, she replied sarcastically, "Oh, you're trying that again." The cubicle world I work in burst in to awkward laughter at her discouraging comment. But it's true, a fellow smoker is the best one to understand how hard it is to quit.

Something feels different about this time, though. I'm more determined to make a big change in my life and saying good bye to cigarettes seems like a good way to do it. Join me as I share my experiences of past attempts at quitting, what I learned from each failed attempt and what I do each day during this journey to fill my life with joy instead of cigarettes.

*I bathe regardless of whether or not I'm smoking, but I took a bath to relax instead of necessity.