Creature of Habit

I realized this morning that I am a creature of habit. Phase 2 of my quit smoking plan focuses on the 'habit' portion of my smoking. Here is a good example of how my smoking has become a habit...

This morning I overslept. I was up late working on stuff and finally went to bed at about 3 am. My alarm was set for 6:30 am. That would give me almost an hour to take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be out the door by 7:20 (or 7:30 at the latest). Well, my alarm went off at 6:30 and I must have hit snooze for almost an hour. I finally got out of bed at 7:24 am. Of course, I was a little stressed since I had to be out the door in 6 minutes. I barely had time to get ready for work. So what do you think I did. I got out of bed and proceeded to go out for a cigarette! It wasn't until I was walking out the door with a cigarette in my hand that I realized that I did not have time for a cigarette. So I put the cigarette down on the table and hurried to get dressed. I told myself that I could smoke it in the car on the way to work. I am trying to get out of the habit of smoking in the car, but I told myself that it would be okay this morning.

Another interesting thing that I noticed. After I put the cigarette down on the table so I could get ready for work, I noticed that I did not feel like I was craving a cigarette. My body was not telling me that I needed a cigarette at that point of time. In my quit smoking plan post, I mentioned that I have to work on 2 things to quit smoking...the addiction and the habit. That is exactly what I meant. That cigarette this morning would have been a habitual cigarette and not a nicotine addiction cigarette. I started to go out for that cigarette out of habit, not because my body needed a 'nicotine fix'.