Quitting smoking

Two days ago I quit smoking. I've been reading Tony Attwood's book "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome" and one of the things it mentioned was that people with AS get their energy from being alone.

One of the things that has always terrified me about quitting was not having a reason to go outside for a few moments every couple of hours (or more often if I needed to) when I'm with a large group. I never understood why that was so important. Now I do! I'm the only one in my family that smokes and none of my friends (who live in another state now) do. So I always go outside--of their homes, the restaurant--wherever.

Now that I know the basis of that part of my smoking--I can give it up. Because it's okay to sneak away for 5 minutes of energizing!!

And another thing I've noticed--every time I've embarked on a new endeavor and then tell my family about it, I lost interest. According to Attwood, people with AS don't do well with public praise. Maybe it's them telling me how great (whatever it is) I'm doing that makes me quit. Designing a web page, job searches, smoking in the past, etc.

So I just won't tell them until enough time has passed that I'm sure this time it's for real. And in the meantime--in order to keep up the charade, I'll still have my excuse to go outside along. lol

The funny thing is that my 4 yr. old nephew will probably be the first to notice. That's how kids are.