Quitting that old habit

I was listening to Neal Boortz on the radio yesterday and the topic of discussion was on taking care of our bodies through exercise and healthy eating. A caller on the show and asked Neal and his guest hosts if he should quit smoking before implementing exercise into his daily activities. Neal’s guest hosts essentially told the caller that he should quit and implement exercise into his life right away.

Neal’s response to the caller was classic. He asked the caller when the last time he smoked his last cigarette. The caller let Neal know that his last smoke happened just prior to the call. In fact, his most recent cigarette was only two minutes before the conversation. Neal then began to point out to the caller that once he finished that cigarette, he had essentially quit smoking. The most important decision he needed to make was not whether or not he would quit smoking, because he already had. What he had to do next was to decide if he was going to start the habit of smoking once again after quitting.

I took that tidbit of wisdom and decided to apply it to my undesirable habits. I understood that the choice that needed to be made is not whether or not to quit whatever habit I am trying to rid myself, the real decision I am essentially making is whether I wish start again my bad habit of ...
Allow that thought to simmer. If you are not biting your nails, smoking a cigarette, eating junk food, etc, at this very moment, you have stopped the undesirable act. Now the choice is yours to make. Do you want to start?