T.A. Michaels

 This past week i struggled quite a bit. I don't know if its a matter of depression or inability to focus... but according to my doctor, it all leads to Smoking Cigarettes. Basically my repeated attempts at quitting smoking have left my system in shock. While I do nicotine replacement therapy (The Patch), I find it that my mood has been fluctuating more than normal these past few weeks. It could be circumstantial, basically a mix of fears and worries over things that I have no control over... Or it could be that the "need" to quit is throwing me into some sort of existential identity Crisis which is taking over my mood. Yesterday I played video games for the first time in a while. It actually went quite well. Both Computer games and Video games were fun to play. While I didnt really start playing until almost 8pm... I was able to complete two missions over the course of four hours. I will be attempting to create a schedule for myself for monday and tuesday nights. My sist...

 Overall, I'm happy. Things have been moving in a positive direction for the last month or so. Most of the paranoid thoughts from earlier this year have started to subside. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I've been getting positive reinforcement from my friends / family / coworkers, or if it's just a matter that the things that were once bothering me are no longer a concern. There's still areas for improvement. But I feel that overtime, those areas will in fact improve also.  Really it's just going to take time for everything. I cant expect to win a race against myself on day one. It's going to take time to resolve some of the mental roadblocks that I've been encountering for the last few years. Time management is going to be a focus for the next few months. And by time management I mean structuring my day in order to accomplish my goals.  While I find it difficult to stick to a routine... The Micro Habits that I need to establish will ultimately ...

 66 days to create a habit. 3 Days to change a habit. 1 day to break a habit. That's the thought process at least. While the book, The Power of Habit, outlines that habits usually take 66 days to form. Changing a habit is a matter of using the same Start and Finish... and changing the routine. A good example of how this works is when the Alcoholic (Who only socially drinks) switches from drinking alcohol to water when going to the same bar he or she always goes to. The Start - Going to the bar and the Finish - Socializing with friends.. remains the same. The change is the switch from drinking alcohol to water. This can be quite effective in quitting alcohol. The harder process is the creation of new habits from scratch. For example... if you were a 3 year old... and you wanted to start the habit of  brushing your teeth... it might be a bit difficult to keep the habit going if you didn't have a parent keeping you on track. So the question becomes, When you're in your 30s or ...