Everyone Struggles

As a smoker, it’s quite common to feel like you’re struggling with some things. It might be with work, relationships, or even with quitting smoking. 

Since the average smoker spends around 6 days every year on smoke breaks, some might assume smoking leads to lesser productivity.

Unfortunately, that’s true.

But everyone struggles and some find ways to cope with these struggles. If that helps you get through the day without breaking down, then it shouldn’t be demonized.

Don’t let someone ruin your day because they don’t understand how it helps you. Doing a 9-5 job can be stressful for anybody, so if you need to take the occasional toke from your glass pipe, you shouldn’t have to feel bad.

Everyone is going through something or the other, but there are other ways you can get through your problems that don’t involve a lighter.

You can take the right steps to give yourself more care and acceptance while dealing with whatever struggles are currently dealing with.

Take Small Steps Daily

Life throws all sorts of challenges at you, especially if you have a long list of goals that you want to achieve. It seems so easy for others, yet for you, the struggle is real.

One of the first things you can do to move forward is to start using a timer every day. It may sound simple but timing your tasks has a certain kind of magic.

The second thing is to break down your tasks into bite-size pieces. 

Most people look at the whole of a task, get themselves  overwhelmed, and then freeze and do nothing.

To combat this and get started, choose the smallest task you can and set your timer for just five minutes.

Even five minutes every day toward a goal adds up, and it’s pretty easy to get yourself to do five minutes of something, even if you’re in a pretty low mood.

Work your way up to longer periods, but whenever you find yourself resisting or procrastinating, go back to shorter times and smaller tasks.

Don’t Quit

When you’re feeling the struggle, quitting feels like the thing that will get rid of your frustration, anger, and other negative emotions.

The problem is that when you quit, you’re just trading one set of negative emotions for another. It’s no fun to feel like a quitter.

As smokers, people expect us to give up easily cause that’s the stereotype. Don’t let them have it their way and keep going!

People who have success in life still feel frustration, and they still fail. What they do differently is they keep going. They never quit.

Just like a boxer getting knocked down and getting back up repeatedly, they keep getting back up and trying again.

When you really feel like quitting, take a deep breath, scale back and take one small step at a time.

Look back on the progress you’ve already made, think about why you started in the first place, and know that you won’t fail at your goals as long as you keep trying.

Don’t Make It Worse Than It Already Is

It’s hard to keep positive in the face of challenging times, especially when it seems like nothing is going right.

Everything could be falling apart, but your attitude is what will help keep you sane.

There’s no sense minimizing struggles because denying them means you might not take needed steps to address issues.

However, nothing good comes from making a situation worse than it is.

Making a situation worse can lead to feeling overwhelmed, causing you to get stuck emotionally and feeling incapable of getting yourself unstuck.

Keep it real, and focus on solutions, not problems.

If you’re feeling too overwhelmed, you can always smoke and let that calm you down before you make any rash decisions.

Don’t Let a Bad Day Ruin Your Week 

                                                          

Sometimes, you have a day where something happens that throws you for a loop. For example, people can ruin days for you by being unkind or giving you critical, negative feedback.

In this case, you might need a little perspective break.

Think about famous athletes and other celebrities living in the spotlight and how they must struggle with the weight of constant judgment from the public.

Think of people that have it worse than you and know that everyone is struggling in their own ways; they just don’t share it publicly. Focus on the times when things went well for you.

Make plans for what you will do going forward to improve your situation, one small step at a time. Reframe the problem by finding empathy for someone who did you wrong.

They might be having a worse week, or have a nastier boss, or bad childhood, etc.

Solutions

Practicing good self-care and having routine activities to recharge can help any struggles seem less daunting.

Work some or all of the following activities into your daily routine, and for more ideas, you can always search online for blogs about life struggles.

• Sing out loud – Queue up upbeat songs and sing along while doing house chores or a workout. Play tunes in the car and sing at the top of your lungs without anyone else being the wiser.

• Hug someone – Share kindness with your hug; get some in return. A hug from the right person can release a lot of stress.

• Write it down – Let it out, get it on paper. Focus more on the feelings behind your struggles rather than the events.

         After all, the feelings about events are what affect you. The events are neutral.

• Pass on social media – Social media shows high points in other peoples’ lives, while you compare them to your own internal low points.

        You will always feel better remembering that everyone struggles, and by focusing on your own life instead of                  someone else’s.

• Get outdoors – Walk in nature and become more mindful of your surroundings. The great outdoors has a way of giving perspective to daily “stuff.”

• Get a helping hand – When you share your struggles with someone else, you can release some of your burdens.

       Talking to supportive family, friends, neighbors, or even a total stranger helps build a sense of community.

        In the current post-‘Rona environment, everyone can identify with struggles and the need for extra self-care.

Don’t let anyone ruin your day by dropping their negativity on you.

Let them struggle with their unhappiness while focusing on your life and moving forward with things that have meaning for you.

Remember, it’s okay to smoke if that helps you get by but following these tips would be more effective. If you’re still finding it hard to cope, you can always turn to the Atomic Blaze Smoke Shop for products that you can use to help you get through your struggles.