Spend it before it spends you

That buzz under your skin is fuel. Your leg's bouncing. Your jaw's tight. You're a shaken can of soda with the tab still closed. That pressure wants out. The craving swears a cigarette is the only way to release it. Your body knows a better exit.

The cigarette spent this charge for you, every time. A brief calm, then back to the same edgy body. It burned your fuel on nothing and left you flat. Movement does the opposite. It spends the charge on you and leaves you steadier than it found you.

Drop and do twenty pushups. Right now. Wall pushups count, slow ones, hands flat against any wall. Push until your arms complain. Breathe hard on the way up. Every rep is God handing a little more of this body back to you.

Shake out your arms. Feel your heart knocking and your shoulders loose. The charge that was begging for a cigarette just got spent on your own muscles. The can's open, and nothing spilled. Out of breath, a little proud, and nowhere near a cigarette.