Life without flavor enhancers

Image source: my original self portrait.

No life flavor enhancers. No cigarettes, no alcohol, no coffee anymore. I was impressed by the post of @gems.and.cookies about his case. I thought of giving up for a long time, but his motivating post was the last drop. Special thanks to @gems.and.cookies, he has become my Allen Carr.

Cigarettes

I have been smoking for 12 years so far since I was 14. I fully understand and always understood needlessness, uselessness and worthlessness of it. There is no chemical nicotine addiction. The habit, that’s the addiction. You take a cigarette out of the pack... put it into you mouth... light it.. sip coffee after each long drag on it... and finally throw it into the ashtray. That’s the problem, dammit! The habit of performing repeated actions 20 times a day.

No cigarettes for 5 days so far. Nothing special for someone, but a great achievement for me. I still cough a little, but I can breath much better. I don’t feel sick in the morning after a pack of cigarettes the evening before. My mind is much more clear and I don’t feel tired by 11 am. The only problem is that my colleague sitting next to me is a heavy smoker and his cigarettes on the table and the smell of cigarette smoke constantly reminds me of smoking, but I can deal with it. Done!

Alcohol

I don’t consider myself an alcoholic, but a drank at least a couple of beers every weekend for a long time. At least a couple. At least beers. This is not actually a problem for me to give up, but just a part of a challenge to live without flavor enhancers. Done!

Coffee

Well, that’s a real problem. I drink much coffee at work and it’s really hard to concentrate without it. So since I still need to earn money, I will not totally refuse drinking coffee, but cut down on its consumption to 2 cups instead of 5.

After I did all this, it feels like I started a new life with a new me. More than that, my new healthy lifestyle gave me another opportunity – I started to work out a couple of days ago and this also helps distract from the desire to have a cigarette.

Everyone understands that someday he will have to give up due to different reasons. You will not become less addicted in the future. Start your next day with a better version of you.