Erin T.
In the evening, I often have moments where I don't have any work, I have eaten, and the dishes are cleaned. It's during this moment that I crave a cigarette the most. As soon as I notice the craving in my mind, I take my addiction journal and write it in. I tell myself that it is the only way I will deserve to smoke. However, after I have made an entry, I have forgotten about the cigarette. Or if I still want to smoke, I wait it out with an episode of Community to see if I still crave it. Replacing one of your triggers with a new habit, like making a journal entry, can be really powerful. Luckily, evenings are quiet enough that you can take note of a craving as soon as it crosses your mind, and you can sit with it for a bit as you write in your journal.
Maddi U.
I’ve made it apart of my set of events as well as I’ve isolated myself during this journey for a month. Everyday I feel something different and am used to either holding it in or putting it all on one person as soon as I get on the phone or in person. So it may not go in exact order every time I pick up my journal to write in it but when I am feeling something and want to tell someone, I write it down. I see it as whether I tell someone or write it down I am getting it off of my chest. That’s the main goal and that’s how I keep up with writing in my journal because every day I have something to say or am having feelings about my day.
Julian T.
I put my journal and a pen beside my bed to remind me. When I see them, they remind me of the commitment I have made to do it daily.
Clara W.
Notification helps. But most important thing is to start and make discipline for the first 2-3 days. When you write the journal, you helps yourself release the tension and reshape your thought better which ultimately make you feel relax and want to continue in the next on-going days. I have done a journal for 30 days and I cannot believe myself that every times when I have a bad day, one thing suddenly pop in my mind is to looking forward for the journal in the evening routine.
