I have been thinking about it, and I am STILL thinking about it. I want to wrestle my pipe tobacco consumption into a level that I am comfortable with.... namely 2-3 pipes while drinking. As I typically will have a couple of drinks perhaps once a week or once every other week, this would be an infrequent event for me to indulge in my pipes and pipe tobacco.
I was 100% successful with this actual approach last year during the entirety of Lent. I felt a motivation to succeed then. I somehow need to figure out how to have the same determination and conviction for this different pattern for smoking a pipe than what has become my natural inclination to smoke my pipes multiple times every day.
I was able to establish a walking routine by willpower and an increasing number. I was able to succeed during Lent.... through determination initially, but then it was not so hard. I have tried to establish the "number" approach with the pipe, but it has not been particularly satisfactory. I do not know if it would change with a larger number (Perhaps if I were to reach 100 days it would intensify my commitment?) but I am a bit doubtful. It is not Lent every day of the year, so that motivation is not sustainable either.
I am still going to spend time thinking of a new approach to allow me to succeed in this quest.
There are few enough pipe smokers out there, but... if you insist on quitting/cutting down, here is an approach that might work better for you.
ReplyDeleteFirst determine how many pipes you have in a day. This is your base number. For this example we will call it 8.
Each week, allow yourself one less pipe each day. So for the first week you can only have 7 pipes a day, the second week 6 pipes a day, etc...
At first it will be easy. After all you are smoking almost as much as you do now. Later on it will be more difficult as you try to keep it down to only a few a day, but by then your body will have gotten use to it and it will be easier than if you had went cold turkey.
You might need to spend more than one week at each level.
You might screw up and smoke more than you should one week, no problem, just spend another week at that level and then move on.
The key is to just keep going, and to really want it to work.
If you really want to reach your goal, you CAN do it.