You've done this drill before

Every craving shows up swearing it's the big one. Stronger than the last. Different this time. The one you finally can't outlast. It said that last time, too. Same speech, word for word, delivered like breaking news.

Remember your first fire drill at school? Heart pounding, sure it was real. By the tenth one you were finishing your sentence as you filed outside. The alarm never changed. You did. The cigarette fakes a brand new emergency every time, reading off the same old script. And the only cravings that ever got their way got it early, before they had to prove anything.

Stretch your back and shoulders, slow and lazy, like you're waiting out an ad. Roll your neck. Reach for the ceiling and let your arms drop. Treat this one like the rerun it is. Same script, same peak, same fade. God's walked you through plenty of these already, and He isn't rattled by this one either.

Let it finish its little show for a bored audience. Yawn at it if you feel like it. Boredom is the most insulting thing you can hand an addiction, and the most accurate. Same drill. You know the way out, and you're already walking it.