Traitor Hands

[TravellingSunny]

Got in my car yesterday after work and blindly started reaching for a pack of cigarettes.  What an eye-opener that was... such an ingrained habit that even as I sat there mentally reminding myself that a craving won't kill me and that I'm a non-smoker, my traitor hands went rummaging for my pack of cigarettes without permission from my brain.  It's a good thing I don't actually have any cigarettes, because I would probably have lit up out of habit before my brain actually registered what my traitor hands were doing.  LOL!

[WeegieWoman]

Hey Sunny.  I used to smoke in the car as well, alot!    My car is black and the drivers side was always covered in ash on the outside, not a great look.  And oh my lord i can only imagine how bad my car used to stink!!  One of my treats early on was a full valet inside and out.  And wow its amazing how much more clean and tidy the car is these days without smoking in it!  The traitor hands may spring up again but you did the right thing, just reminding yourself you dont smoke.  WTG Sunny

[TravellingSunny]

4 minutes ago, WeegieWoman said:

Hey Sunny.  I used to smoke in the car as well, alot!    My car is black and the drivers side was always covered in ash on the outside, not a great look.  And oh my lord i can only imagine how bad my car used to stink!!  One of my treats early on was a full valet inside and out.  And wow its amazing how much more clean and tidy the car is these days without smoking in it!  The traitor hands may spring up again but you did the right thing, just reminding yourself you dont smoke.  WTG Sunny

 

Monday after driving home from work (my third quit day) I immediately set to scrubbing, vacuuming, and wiping every surface in my car.

 

Sadly, it's a relatively new car that I've only had for about two years.  Vehemently refused to allow ANYBODY to smoke in my new vehicle.  Even after picking up the habit again, I still wouldn't smoke in my car.  Then, about a month or so ago, I decided ONE wouldn't stink it up.  Then another, and another.  Very disappointed in myself, but thankfully I didn't completely ruin the interior.  I think it's been saved from the stench.

[Lin-quitting]

Good job Sunny.

 

I remember the days of cleaning the inside of the windshield and seeing all that yellow-brown yuck that came off on the towel. A film that I never really saw until I went to clean it off.

 

You're doing great with reminding yourself that cravings won't kill you. You know the end result will be oh so worth it! Keep up your great work!

[Reciprocity]

That's how it goes Sunny. It really does take a long time to reprogram our brains to function without smoking. As you said, it's so ingrained in us that we just automatically fall back to what we have trained ourselves to do. Now, you need to think about all that stuff which is exactly how we retrain our brains. It's a slow process but it does happen.

[Boo]

8 hours ago, TravellingSunny said:

Got in my car yesterday after work and blindly started reaching for a pack of cigarettes.

 

Years of conditioning takes some time to undo.

 

There's a four-way stop close to where I work.  Every morning, for years, I would light up at that stop.  Weeks into my quit, I would still reach for the center console to grab a smoke when I reached that point.  Now it doesn't even cross my mind, but it took a while to set in.

 

Cigarettes turned us all into the human equivalents of Pavlov's dog.

[barry]

So, it’s pretty much accepted science that after 3 days, your system is effectively “nicotine free”. So yeah...everything else is all in your head...the Habit.  And if you’re like me, almost all of life was connected to smoking.  Eating, sleeping, driving, talking, walking working, playing...everything!

 

It explains why you see some folks “craving” after YEARS quit!  Brain playing tricks. “Last time I experienced <fill in the blank>, I smoked and I felt better”. WRONG! Last time, you were an addict and needed a fix to stop going into withdrawals!

 

Just NOPE.  

[Reciprocity]

^^^ That's it! Years of conditioning as a smoker so now it' reconditioning as a non-smoker Just takes time is all.

[d2e8b8]

Well done, Sunny.  You’re doing great breaking old habits and forming new ones.

[Kermit]

I was literally thinking how proud I was for not smoking before doing x (I think I had to do some off-site work thing) and as I was congratulating myself, I reached for a smoke in my car as a "reward" not thinking as well. (Early in my quit)...when my hand hit my pack of gum I had put in its place in my brain realize what had happened....couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all ?

[JB 883]

I used to smoke in the car.

Nowadays it is just nasty fumes from an exhaust leak. least it isn't tobacco