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Favorite Authors–For your Reading Slump
This Sunday Book Review is going to look a little different. I am going to list a few of my all-time favorite authors. Consider these a place to start if you are in a reading slump or maybe you have never been a reader and was to know where to start to become a book lover like I am. Here are some suggestions in various genres. Choose something that interests you and go from there. Happy reading.
Mystery/Detective
James Patterson: This author has so many books that I cannot pick a favorite. Reading his books got me through the years with young kids. You know what I’m talking about, you sit down thinking you have a few minutes and immediately someone inevitably needs something. These books are easy readers and do not require you to do a ton of thinking, but can transport you and make fall in love with the characters. You can find them all here.
Frieda McFadden: I started out with her Housemaid series (love,love,love) and then realized just how many books she actually has. Check them out right here!
Fantasy
JK Rowling: I couldn’t talk about fantasy without giving props to this woman. She is the goddess of the brilliant Harry Potter series. Once you’ve given them a read, plan a trip to Universal Orlando and feel like you have been transported right into the books. Thank you to my boys for introducing me way back when they were first released!
If you have already consumed this series, my honorable mention goes both to Sarah J Maas A Court of Roses and Thorns Series. Click here.
And Rebbeca Yarros Fourth Wing series found here
These two series combine both the fantasy genre and romance (with a bit of smut thrown in)
Historical Fiction
This genre has quickly become my new favorite. I will give all of the credit to Kristin Hannah. Shop here. I first read The Nightengale. She writes so well that I had to double check if it was fiction. Her books center on a strong woman character during some of the most trying times in American History. I cannot recommend her enough.
If you are more into Nonfiction. I am going to give you a couple books that are both auto biographies and when you purchase the audible version they read it to you themselves. It’s a WIN-WIN
Green Lights by Matthew Mcconaughey SHOP here
Spare by Prince Harry is an interesting dive into a world we know nothing about, even if you aren’t a royal watcher (like my mama)!
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Six Top Tips for a Healthier Diet
I’m going to lead into this post by being very straight forward with all of you. Guess who has always headed straight for the fries, the burgers, the pizza and don’t even get me started on the chocolate. (Reese’s I’m looking at you).Yep- if you picked? You are correct. Nobody I know would think that I would be the person to give advice about the healthy eating train.
I find myself at 53 years old (barely lol) and trying to understand where on earth all of this weight came from. I could always eat what I wanted and not gain a pound. Well, my good people, that ship has sailed and stowed away on the boat is my metabolism.
The time is now to do something about this so I buried myself in the research and I have learned a ton. Now, did the research make me like brussell sprouts? Not a chance, but it has made me a lot more mindful of the things I put in my body and how much. Read on to to see the tips and advice that I have learned and take away what, if anything can help you too.
We all know that some foods are better for you than others. We know that it’s a good idea to limit fast food, eat more vegetables, drink plenty of water, and stay active. The problem is that sometimes, these things are far easier said than done.
There are times where healthy eating feels like an enormous mountain or hurdle to overcome. You may feel uncertain about where to start, how to get going, or what to eat. It is far easier to grab a drive-thru dinner than to think ahead and cook that healthy meal.
The good news is that healthy eating does not have to be hard. Read on to learn what you need to transform your body and enjoy a healthier, happier lifestyle.
Learn About Nutrition
How can you embark on a journey of healthy eating if you have no idea what this actually looks like?
Societal changes, educational limitations, and the availability of fast, convenient food means that many people have no real knowledge of nutrition.
The Internet is always at our fingertips, and it is time to use this wealth of information for good. While there is no need to become a nutritionist, it’s worth taking the time to understand the basics of a healthy diet.
Understanding things like the benefits of carbs, that all fats are not evil, and how certain foods affect your body can inspire you to change your diet. You also have the knowledge you need to move forward with confidence, and as we all know, knowledge is power.
Create A Signature Dish
You can find the recipe for this Green Papaya Salad here.
Another common deterrent from a healthy lifestyle is a lack of cooking skills. But here again, the internet is your friend. Once you understand what should be included in a balanced meal, find a delicious recipe that includes all these elements and perfect it. This will ensure that you have a healthy dish to turn to when time is short. You will also never panic at an impromptu dinner party again!
Batch Cook
Learning to batch cook is another great way to ensure that you are eating healthy, even when life is crazy. Set aside some time to cook a batch of meals that can be easily frozen. When time is short, you can enjoy a freezer meal that is healthy and nutritious. Don’t forget to double-check which items can and cannot be frozen, and always defrost your meals properly before you start eating.
For some great, healthy batch cooking ideas head on over to https://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/easy-freezer-meals/
Shop Smarter
When you shop, always go with a list, and plan your meals in advance. This will help ensure that you only buy what you need. Fill your cupboards with healthy, delicious snacks rather than unhealthy options. Meal planning and meal prep can be a game changer both for your bank account and for your midsection.
It’s always good to enjoy life in moderation, and eating a bit of chocolate as a treat can be a good thing. Just make sure that it really is a treat and not an everyday occurrence.
Do It For You
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you need to make changes for yourself, not for anyone else. This will keep you motivated and on track and allow you to see the real benefits of a healthy diet.
Drink more Water
I cannot stress this enough: most of us are going through life extremely dehydrated. Do you know how much water you should be drinking for your height, weight, and age? I’ll bet it’s safe to say you aren’t consuming enough. Water is essential for your organs to work properly; it also helps you to feel full and perhaps not eat quite as much at each meal. I would say that this is my number one tip, if you do nothing else on this list, add more and more water to your diet.
Here are some tips to get more water in your diet every single day.
https://glossybelle.com/how-to-drink-more-water-every-day/ Final Thoughts
Switching to a healthier diet can take a little prep and practice, but you can rest assured that the benefits far outweigh the stresses. It is a change you will never regret making!
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Fasting for Weight Loss – Setting the Record Straight by Brad Pillon
Paleo eating and vegan eating are the EXACT SAME THING.
This is why any and all research on Paleo diets can be used for Vegan diets, and vice versa.
It’s also why any personal experiences people have had with a Vegan diet can be directly applied to what you will probably experience with the Paleo Diet and vice versa.
I mean, after all… they’re both ‘eating’ right?
I hope this sounds crazy to you, because this is EXACTLY how I feel when people talk about different types of fasting.
‘Fasting’ or ‘Fasting for weight loss’ is a very BROAD description of a style of ‘not eating’, just like ‘Eating’ or ‘Eating for weight loss’ can cover just about any diet in existence.
All fasting is NOT the same, just like all styles of Eating are not the same.
So, I’d like to give you my own way of clarifying this apparent confusion.
These are my own definitions, but they have served me extremely well over the years…
Long-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period over 72 hours.
Short-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period of 72 hours or under.
OK, so now that we’ve divided up fasting based on length, let’s look at much more confusing issue – Intermittent Fasting.
Intermittent – Occurring occasionally or at regular or irregular intervals… so really “Occasionally”
Fasting – Taking a break from eating (zero calorie intake) for a predetermined period of time without a necessary interval from one fast to the next.
So Intermittent fasting becomes ‘Occasionally taking a break from eating’
(Pretty simple eh?)
But this is where people get confused… Or at least where I get confused.
If you are spending MORE time NOT eating than you are eating in any given period of time (let’s say a week) why are you calling that Intermittent Fasting?
In my eyes this cannot be defined as taking an occasional break from eating, in fact I think it should be defined as the opposite, and that would be “Intermittent Feeding”.
Intermittent Feeding = Taking the occasional break from fasting to eat during a predetermined window.
There are similar approaches but also very different approaches to fasting for weight loss.
This is not an attempt to disparage this type of approach. Diets that are Intermittent Feeding can be fantastic, helpful, effective, but they can also be in some ways completely different than Eat Stop Eat.
I feel that it’s not accurate to lump them together as the experience of doing a form of intermittent fasting is much different than intermittent feeding.
In my opinion the sub-categories of IF need to make it into our way of thinking.
LeanGains, The Renegade Diet and even some of the more extreme protocols along these lines (like fasting for 20 hours eating for 4 every day) – all can incredibly effective fat loss programs, but in my eyes (and I know you guys are going to hate this) NOT intermittent Fasting. To me they are more accurately described as Intermittent Feeding.
Now, the benefits are very similar – simple, easy fat loss, no loss of muscle mass etc.
The technique is similar; Don’t eat for a period of time.
And they, along with most other kinds of IF probably share about 80% of the supporting research.
But there are also some major differences that I feel is what merits this new definition – specifically the amount of time you are ‘allowed’ to eat, and because the ‘eating windows’ are different, you also have to approach your eating differently. The more ‘extreme’ the Intermittent Feeding, the short the eating window, the more you must eat with ‘purpose’ during that window.
Each style shares some pros and cons, but also have other unique pros and cons.
Sometimes there is research that applies to ALL types of fasting, sometimes it’s specific to one style or the other.
The same goes with personal experience. If someone tells you they had a *great* or *horrible* experience with IF, it would be best to clarify exactly WHAT they were doing – was it IF – Intermittent fasting or IF – Intermittent feeding?
Different, but similar. For many people you can use both depending on your current lifestyle, or even the season of the year. Other people may simply find one style specifically works for them and they have no reason to change it.
If you tried Eat Stop Eat and didn’t like the lack of structure and found it too loose that’s fine, go try LeanGains or the Renegade diet, you’ll likely get awesome results.
Or perhaps you found LeanGains or the Renegade Diet to be a little too much fasting? – That’s fine, try Eat Stop Eat, I bet you’ll love it.
Don’t like any of them? Fine – go eat.. Lot’s of people lose weight eating 5-6 times per day too.
I’d like to challenge your current thoughts on what the definition of IF and “Intermittent Fasting” means. Starting today add “Intermittent Feeding” to your definitions of what it means to take a break from eating and realize that “Intermittent Fasting” really is a different experience than “Intermittent Feeding”. At the very least, I ask you to recognize that there are multiple forms of Intermittent Fasting, and that these forms, while similar, cannot always be lumped together.
BP
I have ventured into the intermittent fasting world and this is the type of thing that is working for me! I love bread, pasta and all of the so-called “forbidden foods. I know I would be setting myself up for failure if I continued down the fiet path that did not allow me to indulge in some of my favorites! Maybe this is the thing you’ve been looking for too? –Mel, your #moxiemama
PS – Of note, anything that is a ‘fast’ but also contains food you can eat during the fast, or a specific amount of calories you are to eat during a fast is no longer a fast in my eyes. It can be a low-calorie diet, or even a ‘cleanse’ but if you have foods to eat, I don’t see it as being the same as a fast.
Brad Pilon has his masters degree in human nutrition and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist. His trademarked Eat Stop Eat program has been featured all over the Internet and been seen on national television, and has helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and heal their relationship with food. For information on Eat Stop Eat that will help you burn fat while literally doing nothing, visit www.eatstopeat.com
Check this out for yourself! Here
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It’s Not You by Ramani Durvasula, PhD
Narcissism. It’s a word that we have all heard and I’ll bet we each have our own definition of what we thought it was. I am hear to tell you, I had no clue what that word truly meant and how my life has been affected by it. In this book right here Dr. Ramani blew my world wide open and explained so many situations that I could not explain to myself. You’re not crazy after all… Read that again. You..Are..Not..Crazy. If you have found yourself in similar situations, Please give this book a read or a listen. You can also find and follow her podcast here! I am going to be doing a deep dive into this topic and I can’t wait to share all that I find.
Here is the Amazon description:
It’s not always easy to tell when you’re dealing with a narcissistic person. One day they draw you in with their charm and charisma, the next they gaslight you, wreck your self-esteem, and leave you wondering, What should I have done differently? As Dr. Ramani explains in It’s Not You, the answer is: absolutely nothing.
Just as a tiger can’t change its stripes, a narcissist will not stop manipulating and invalidating you, no matter how much you try to appease them. The first step toward healing from their toxic influence—and to protect yourself from future harm—is to accept that you are not to blame for their behavior.
Drawing on more than two decades of studying the landscape of narcissism and working with survivors, Dr. Ramani explores how narcissists hijack our well-being and offers a healing path forward. Unpacking the oft-misunderstood personality, she reveals the telltale behavioral patterns that indicate you may be dealing with a narcissist. Along the way, you’ll learn how to become gaslight resistant, chip away at the trauma bonds that keep you stuck in the cycle, grieve the loss of these painful relationships, create and maintain realistic boundaries, discern unhelpful behaviors from narcissistic behaviors, and recover your sense of self after constant invalidation.
Thriving after, or even during, a narcissistic relationship can be challenging, but It’s Not You shows you it is possible. Dr. Ramani invites you to stop blaming yourself and trying to change the narcissistic person, and to start giving yourself permission to let go of their hold on you and finally embrace your true self.You can grab your copy with the link below
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Atomic Habits by James Clear
This book has taught me that I do not need to make all kinds of big changes in order to get the outcomes that I am looking for. If you are anything like me, I see a big outcome that I want but I rarely bring it back to the small changes that I could stack and end up getting there. I tend to get frustrated if I do not see results quickly and just basically throw in the towel.
Description from Amazon:The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold!
Tiny Changes, Remarkable ResultsNo matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
design your environment to make success easier;
get back on track when you fall off course;
…and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
You can get your copy whether you would rather listen to it through the audible app or you enjoy an actual book that you hold in your hands.Grab it right here
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9 Mind Strategies to Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle.
Although you must follow through with certain behaviors when you’re seeking to live a healthier lifestyle, many experts believe that healthy behaviors have their roots in your mind. What you think and believe will determine how well you’ll follow through and apply the overall choice of a healthy lifestyle in your daily existence.
Consider these mind strategies to increase the likelihood for a healthy lifestyle:
- Recognize your prior life successes. Take some time to reflect on what you’ve been successful at in the past. Then, use those prior life successes to ignite your passion for living healthily.
- Maybe you’re proud of the fact you worked yourself through college.
- Perhaps you’re known as the co-worker to go to when seeking work knowledge.
- Maybe you took care of your ailing mother and nursed her back to health.
- You can use these past successes to your advantage in the present!
- Consider what’s good and positive about your life right now. Perhaps you live in a beautiful apartment right where you want to be. Maybe you’re in a great relationship and you’re pretty pumped about how it’s progressing.
- When you embrace all of the good in your life, you’ll be more motivated to strive for good health.
- Think about the connections between a healthy lifestyle and a happy life. For example, reflect on how great you feel physically and emotionally when you eat a good breakfast or choose to meditate or practice some yoga first thing in the morning. Also, take notice of how well you can relax and sleep when you skip that heavy snack in the evening. When you can go to bed not having that bloated “Thanksgiving meal” feeling you will sleep much better. Good sleep is essential to a healthy lifestyle.
- When you recognize the intimate relationship between your daily choices and your emotions, you’ll be more driven to take steps to live well.
- Renew your commitment to your own health each day. Determine what you really want for yourself and your future. Write it down, the things you really desire. Where you want to be in a year, 5 or even 10. Ask yourself every day if what you are choosing is helping you get closer to these goals.
- What kind of lifestyle do you desire? A life where you sit in front of the television all evening and most weekends or one where you’re active, trying new physical activities all the time, and discovering adventure? Do you want to travel the world and experience a new destination? Do you want to be able to be present and actively play with your grandchildren? Do you want to be able to hike that challenging trail or just take pictures from the bottom?
- Make it a personal goal to become physically and emotionally stronger. When you have physical strength, emotional strength isn’t far behind. Please wake up and promise yourself that you are going to take this one great big beautiful life that you have and fill it full of all the incredible things that are available to you.
- Vow to strengthen your core and get it into tip-top shape, as much as the core exercise options suck in the “fun” category. When your core is strong you will feel empowered to get after the other challenges you are facing.
- Tap into your courage, find your fight again, and choose your path to a healthy lifestyle. If this is choices in diet, mindfulness or even choosing therapy to purge any childhood trauma that may be holding you back it is vital to finding your ultimate happiness.
- Realize that you can eat the flavors and foods you want in moderation. Use positive, optimistic thinking regarding nutrition. Avoid taking the approach that you must deny yourself of the tastes you love.
- Instead, say that there’s nothing you can’t have as long as you limit the portions. And then remind yourself of all the healthy good food you can have like juicy fruits, savory vegetables, and high-protein snacks.
This book shows you how just the tiniest of changes can make the biggest difference. You can shop for it here!
- Take it one day at a time. Living your life one day at a time keeps things simple. Say to yourself, “Just for today, I will eat fresh and healthy foods and I will exercise.” Recognize that although tomorrow is another day, for now, you’ll stay on the path you’ve chosen for increased vigor and vitality.
- Remain emotionally connected with yourself—live life consciously. When you live life consciously, you recognize the power you hold in every decision. Pull from your energy to make positive choices from that power.
- You’ll likely experience feelings of exhilaration and excitement in your efforts!
- Have faith and confidence in yourself. Connect with your self-confidence to take a clearer path toward vitality and longevity. Think about these aspects of yourself. Re-discover your fearlessness.
When you apply these strategies, you’ll experience the sweet joy that comes with demonstrating a healthy lifestyle. Go ahead – you know you can do it!
If you are looking for a way to bring more peace into your world and reduce your stress. Check out this post on the Danish lifestyle Hygge. https://www.mamawithmoxie.org/hygge-what-it-is-and-how-to-embrace-it/
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Protecting your peace–There is nothing more important.
One of the best decisions I have made has been to focus on my peace, and how I will protect it. I am nearing my 53rd birthday and have learned much in those years. I have been through a ton of incredible experiences and through a ton of pain. I have experienced love and I have experienced hate, from all of these came lessons. I have traveled the world, made amazing friends, and now is my time to protect my inner calm. Come along with me and let’s take the best care of ourselves in this one life we have to live.
Here are the best ways that I have found to start protecting my peace.
** Prioritize self-care practices like meditation, mindfulness, exercise, and spending time in nature, while also setting healthy boundaries with others, actively managing your exposure to negativity, and consciously choosing activities that bring you joy and relaxation; essentially, putting your well-being first and actively managing factors that could disrupt your inner calm.
Key strategies to protect your peace:
Mindfulness and Meditation:
Regular meditation practice can help you become more aware of your thoughts and emotions, allowing you to better manage them and respond calmly to stressors.
Set Boundaries:
Make sure you communicate your needs and limits to others, saying “no” when necessary to protect your time and energy.
Limit Negative Exposure:
Be selective about the people you spend time with and the information you consume, minimizing exposure to negativity and drama. Do not allow someone to belittle you or make you believe that you are less than you deserve.
Self-Care Routine:
Participate in activities that nourish your mind, body, and spirit, such as healthy eating, regular exercise, hobbies, and adequate sleep.
Practice Gratitude:
Focus on the positive aspects of your life by actively practicing gratitude through journaling or mental reflection. Grab a journal like this one here, and keep track of your emotions and the things that you are blessed with around you.
Time in Nature:
Spending time outdoors can significantly reduce stress and promote feelings of peace. Take a long walk in the woods, get some sunshine outside. Listen to the sounds around you, the trees, the birds, the wind.
Digital Detox:
Take breaks from social media and technology to avoid information overload and mental fatigue. If the news stresses you out, turn it off. If you find yourself getting burned out looking at all of the ads, or comparing yourself to others then it is time to turn off the social media and focus on yourself.
Healthy Coping Mechanisms:
Develop healthy ways to manage stress, like deep breathing exercises, journaling, or listening to calming music. Make yourself a playlist of songs that make you happy, read a really good book, or learn a new skill. For me, it is to cook. I love being in the kitchen creating good food for my family.
Seek Professional Help:
If you’re struggling with managing your emotions or maintaining peace, you could and should consider therapy or counseling to gain additional tools and support. Many factors go into our mental health and you deserve to feel your best. We all can benefit by getting things out of our heads, whether on paper or to a professional. Below is a list of resources that can help you. Above all, if you are considering or have considered suicide you must reach out for help.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): https://www.nimh.nih.gov/
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): https://www.nami.org/
Here are some incredible videos and podcasts that may help you, I know that they have helped me tremendously.
https://www.youtube.com/@DoctorRamani
https://www.youtube.com/@melrobbins
https://www.calm.com/blog/inner-peace
I use the Aura app and I absolutely love it! Find it here.
I have to give the biggest props to this book — incredible read, and as always when Mel Robbins speaks, I feel it in my soul.
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Kristin Hannah and her book that started my obsession.
This is the book that introduced me to the fabulous Kristin Hannah, and I’m so glad I took the leap. Each one of her books has left me a little speechless. It is incredible what a woman’s spirit and strength can endure and Hannah captures the power of women in so many different ways. I recommend picking up one of her many books. This is where I started.
Description from Amazon: With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
You can pick up this and all of her other bestsellers here
If you are like me and looking for the best way to work on your mental health you can read my post on mental health and why it is so important here. Also, check out this company. They donate 10% of all profits to Mental Health America! Click the link below to get my discount. Protecting your peace may just become your lifelong goal like it is becoming mine.
https://findthegoodbrand.com/?ref=byloejks
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The Life We Bury by Allen Eskins
This week I went back in time and found an incredible book that I somehow had missed. If any of you have read it, please let me know what you thought. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It is a light read but very thought-provoking.
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?
You can find the book in your favorite form here!
**This post contains affiliate links, I receive a small commission if you purchase through my link at no additional cost to you.
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12 Methods to Help You Quit Smoking for Good
We all know that smoking can cause health issues including heart disease and cancer. It’s easy for someone to say that one should quit, but doing it is not such an easy task.
If you’ve ever tried to quit smoking before, but couldn’t, it may be time to give it another try. Many people who have quit smoking had to try a few times to make it happen.
My quit date was Dec 30th, 2019. If the calculators out there are to be believed, I am saving over $2000/yr. Since there is no price tag on our health that number goes way beyond the $10000 I have already saved. I am here to tell you that if I can do it, you can too!
Here is the way I finally crushed the habit for good. I knew that I had in my head that I wanted or needed to quit. It is extremely expensive, but I’d like to be around to watch my (someday) grandkids grow up. Smoking made everything I wore smell like an ashtray. I was tired of panicking about where I would be able to get my “fix” when traveling or out and about with nearly everywhere being a smoke-free environment.
I knew all of these things in my head now I asked myself –” why is it going to be different this time?”
This is the exact plan I used and maybe it can work for you too!
1. I looked forward and saw myself without the addiction, what would be better about my life?
2. I decided to break the “habit” part of the addiction before actually attempting to quit. (The mindless cigarette after dropping the kids off, the short smoke on my lunch break, before bed-first thing in the morning–you get the drift)
3. Now that you have recognized how that “habit” has just taken over, you have the power to take the power back. I did not try to quit until I had sufficiently put the habit on it’s head. In my mind I didn’t panic because I was still technically a smoker. I just decided when and where I would smoke. I cut back until I felt myself getting easily angry or stressed, had a half cigarette and went on with life.
4. I told myself and acted as if I was a non-smoker. I had been a smoker for decades so this wasn’t easy. I needed to learn a whole new pattern in my brain. Your self-talk is extremely powerful, USE IT to your advantage.
5. Once all of these things and the “habit” had shaken up. I bought myself my FINAL pack of cigarettes and put it in the freezer so I wouldn’t let myself think about the fact that I had zero options and would have to drive the 11 miles to pick up a pack (causing me to think more about it, and giving my power away) instead I was in control. I had the choice and I would not take my frustrations out on my family, before that would happen I would open that pack and just move on.
6. Every day I kept acting as if I were a non-smoker, a sort of fake it-till-you-make-it mentality. I carried that unopened pack with me when we were going out. In February 2020 I handed that pack of cigarettes to a friend and never looked back.
Extra tips:
If you feel like you will need more help, visit with your doctor. I used the nicotine patch for about 2 weeks. I cannot tell you if that made a huge difference or not but, I wanted to set myself up for success.
Be kind to yourself and do not beat yourself up for setbacks. Just move on and start again.
You can use the fake it till you make it method in nearly every aspect of your life.
Additional tips for your success
- Be positive. Even if you have tried and failed to quit smoking in the past, you can still be positive about trying it again. Look at what the previous experience was like. What would you do differently this time around?
- Eat foods that support quitting smoking. Certain foods can make cigarettes more satisfying, while others have the opposite effect. While you’re quitting, try and avoid meat. Instead, opt for cheese, fruit, and vegetables.
- Change what you drink. Your choice of drink can also affect how the cigarettes taste. Avoid any fizzy drinks, tea, or coffee. Instead, opt for water and juice.
- Get some support. If you have friends or family that may want to quit smoking, suggest that you give up smoking together. There will also likely be a local support group that you could visit. The expert advice you get from these support groups will give you a better chance of quitting.
- Exercise. Getting regular exercise, even if it is only 5 minutes a day, will ensure that your body produces chemicals that can reduce cravings.
- Learn new ways to relax. Nicotine can help people relax, so when you quit, it’s important to find a different way to de-stress. Your favorite music or a massage may be an option. A new hobby can also help keep you busy and relaxed.
- Enjoy immediate health benefits. Just 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your heart rate will return to normal. Within the day, the levels of carbon monoxide will fall back to their normal levels. And within 2-3 weeks, your chances of suffering a heart attack will also reduce.
- Have a spring clean. To remove all of the reminders of your time smoking, and to reduce temptation, give your house a deep clean. Clean your carpets, clothes, and upholstery. If you used to smoke in the car, clean that too.
- Keep your hands and mouth busy. When you are out at a party, consider holding your drink with the same hand as a cigarette. Use a straw to keep your mouth busy.
- Use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). There are numerous patches, tablets, lozenges, gum, and nasal sprays that you can use to reduce cravings. These products all contain nicotine, which is what you are craving when you want to light a cigarette.
- Make a list of reasons why you want to quit. Why do you want to quit smoking? Write a list of reasons and carry it around with you. Read your list back to yourself whenever you’re tempted to have a cigarette.
- Reward yourself. When you no longer experience any cravings, reward yourself. Smoking is an expensive habit, so along with the health benefits that you’ll gain from quitting, you’ll also be able to save money too. You could use this saved money to treat yourself to something fun.
Even if you’ve tried to quit smoking before, try these strategies to take another go at it. This time can be the time you quit for good.
You can use this new planner to track your successes, goals, and even setbacks. Recognizing what is working and what is not can be vital in winning your final battle.
