Then you totally missed it. Quiting and its impact on your pool are totally related. Alleviating tension from quiting is about mind control..the same thing that is needed to quit. So, lets review again. Breathing control. Count to 50 backwards. Close your eyes for a moment and see Carl Weathers saying "taap it in.....taaap it in. And one more. Think of a "happy place".
Sounds like you smoked to relax. Yeah. Quite a stretch ? Which is why you are having "cool" issues now. Tough to relax when the old sticks aren't there to do it for you. JMO, that's why the patch doesn't always work. YOu have to change yourself. Toughest thing in the world is to change ourselves. So now, you have to learn to relax the same way you quit smoking. By practicing. Every day. Every minute. Manta, manta, manta. Practice, practice, practice. Over and over again. Just take a deep breath and repeat....I can do this....I can do this....I can do this.....happy place.....
then you can beat the crap out of your opponent....but happily!
Best,
tim
This is very good advice. Having the strength to change your behavioral pattern is a toughie when it comes to abstaining from cigarettes, especially during times of stress, after a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner, or a cool pool session.
I have often seen pool players place the cigarette on the rail while they're engrossed in a game. The late Michael "Geese" Gerace was playing a fairly well-known Baltimore gambler named "Bread Man." Yep, as you might guess, the Bread Man delivered bread to grocery stores. :grin-square:
Bread Man smoked Lucky Strikes, without the filters, as did Geese. Geese smoked a couple packs a day of those filter-less Lucky Strikes. It seemed that every time Bread Man would place his cigarette on the rail, before he knew it, Geese would pick it up and start smoking it, thinking it was his. After a few hours, Bread Man ran out of cigarettes and needed to get some more. He said to Geese, "Man, I'm going to have to have somebody bring in a carton of cigarettes in order to keep playing you." :embarrassed2:
Many times, one doesn't even realize how much they're smoking when they're in the throes of a happening such as a pool match. I hate to admit it, but there have been many mornings after an all-night pool session, smoking non-stop, that I could hardly breathe air. And then there was the cough. OMG, that cough. The cough was so hard, that I could barely catch my breath. My face would get beet red, and my eyes would water. Sometimes I would cough so hard that my stomach would hurt.
The best thing I have ever done for myself was to quit those cigarettes, but it's not easy. There are still times today, even after one year of no smoking, that I still think about it. Usually, it's times of stress or after a good meal for me.
BTW, in my thirties or thereabouts, I quit smoking for 3-1/2 years. I was over the hump, so to speak. My mother passed away, and I was facing some difficult times in my life. I decided that one cigarette wouldn't hurt me, while I was going through the stress. Oh, the rationale of an addict, even after 3-1/2 years.
I went out, bought me a pack of Marlboro Reds, and smoked one. I didn't even get dizzy, after 3-1/2 years. I thought I could just limit myself to one or two a day while I was getting through the dificult time in my life. One month later, I was back to smoking a pack a day, like I had never quit.
Moral of the story: Never give in to emotional weak moments, do not rationalize that one won't hurt or tomorrow is a better day to quit instead of today, and do follow the advice of Stikapos. :smile:
) I guess I am one of the few that reacts totally opposite to its purpose.
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