My Eighth, Ninth And Tenth Day

Hi everyone,
Sorry that this post is so late - I was constantly on the go the last 3 days, constantly running back and forth between driver's ed, rehearsing drums, taking drum lessons, watching a concert and so forth.
I haven't had more than four hours of sleep a night for the last 3 days, so I guess this post won't be long :D
Any, so what did you think when you read the above lines?
Sounds like stress, doesn't it?
As I mentioned before, stress is one of the three "triggers" I mentioned at the beginning; being stressed makes you more desperate for a feeling of calm and relief, so it makes you more vulnerable to letting down your principles just so you can ease up a little for a moment.
But instead of grabbing the next cigarette you can find, you should grow a little more conscious of your behaviour.
In most cases, you actually invoke you stress yourself.
I am pretty positive that I inflicted it on me in account of not sleeping enough.
Sleeping well is not only the key to reduce stress, but also to gain physical and mental strengh.
I'd say the optimum sleeping duration is 8 hours. Maybe a little more or less for some.
But, in general, after 8 hours of sleep, you don't lose your reserves at 3 PM already (like one does when sleeping 6 hours), nor do you take about 3 hours to get your system going (10 hours).
Try to be early with everything. Having more time to do things gives you a sense of control, which definitely reduces stress.
If you're a heavy coffee drinker, you might want to cut back on that as well; as much as coffee accelerates in the morning, it definitely slows you down by the afternoon.
Just remember: stress can be resolved otherwise. Just be creative about that.
For instance, if you're working on something and you're not progressing because you're constantly distracted by some stream of mind, take a few minutes and concentrate on that thought to clear your head.
If you're getting frustrated because you can't manage to progress, take a short break. Working continuously for more than maybe 90 minutes is unhealthy.

So, back to the first week theory.
I stated that I believe quitting will be easier after going through the first week.
And my conclusion is: I was right!
For the past three days, the scenes from last week were recurring, and it seemed quite normal to me to not smoke.
So if you just began quitting: Keep your eyes on the prize, it gets easier. A lot.
I noticed that another weekend is coming up, meaning that the next post might only come on saturday or even sunday.
Until then: Keep the spirit up!