Alright this is getting old.

[JB 883]

Yesterday was month 13 of quit. I have had NO tobacco nor nicotine, weed, or whatever. Yeah i am afraid if I smoked a doob, it would trigger something even though I have smoked it maybe 10 times or less in my life. The closest I have been to smoking since I quit is when someone is standing outside a store puffing away their lives.

 

Anyways, so a couple weekends ago my room mate and i were pulling into this restaurant and I got this weird impulse that said, "light up". Well I can't do that without a cig now can I? So just a brief crave that came and went. But then Sunday I was heading to my sister's apartment and then again, that impulse of "light up".

 

A few nights ago I had this dream that I was able to start again but didn't want more than two or three cigarettes a week. Like I was in control of it.

Side note about that - I work with this guy that used to chew and says he has dreams about chewing. F*****g nicotine won't leave ANY addict alone in dreams will it? He quit using it a while back but anyways.

 

So I am now thinking, just how much longer will I be dealing with this? The craves are not powerful but I want them gone. How the hell can the brain be so addicted to something so bad?

[Sslip]

Sorry that some triggers are still there and I have no advice to offer being a little way behind you. It is stunning that you have a quit that is strong despite these memories and addict prompts, you have already done an amazing job. I hope this is simply the last of the fading memories giving it one last try to get you to celebrate inappropriately.

 

Keep rocking the quit and showing us how it is done!

[notsmokinjo]

^^ What he said....

 

But your brain still has more smoking memories than quit memories. I know, like me, you have often wondered at those who get through that first year and relapse in month 13, 14, 15.... it probably just like you have experienced... maybe subconsciously we associate the 12 months as the job being done and it gives the addiction a chance to weedle back in... its about being ever vigilant.

 

I am sorry you have had a rough few days... but compare these passing thoughts that you know for what they are to what you went through in the third month. I am sure they are more frustrating than actually real chances of tossing your quit. You have a few coming behind you who need you to hang on... cos no pressure at all .... I know your quit is strong, this is a little bump... use it as the reminder that the addiction will always be there weaker and weaker each day, month and year... but every now and then, when we feel all comfy that its a done deal its going to try and hook us back in... that just what being an addict is all about. Knowing that that is what it is gives you the power to laugh in its face and move on....

 

and because I never get to do one.... WooHoo Happy 13th month smoke free....

 

[Doreensfree]

Everyone is different JB...time...and everyone time is different ....

You will still  think of cigarettes ..even I do...but not as a crave ..it's just a thought ..like a million others i have in a day...

Your going great ......as long as you dont turn it into something else ..and smoke ...it's normal..

[ShaolinMonk]

Good job Jet Black

 

I am only 19 hours smoke free

 

[Reciprocity]

Hey JB! I'm just a little ahead of you in time at a year and a half or so and I still have thoughts, bordering on weak cravings for a smoke here and there. They are fleeting thoughts but they are strong enough still that when they do come, it's surprising and if I was in a weak moment and like you noted, if I actually had a cigarette handy, I might light up just on a whim. That's why we always have to be on our guard and aware that it CAN happen if we were to get careless. We see people coming back here after a year or more quit for this very reason. They dropped their guard just one time and fell for that sinister thought .... Surely I can have just one!

 

Now just to put this in perspective for those behind us in their quits, these craves or thoughts of smoking are not in the same category as those we experience during our first months or even year of our quit. These thoughts of smoking or suggestions from deep in our mind that we should be lighting up are pretty weak and last only seconds and, they are not coming frequently which is what makes them dangerous. We aren't expecting them and most days we have no thoughts or urges to smoke. They come out of nowhere. I can't even identify a trigger when they come upon me. I will be just going about a normal everyday routine and one just comes into my head from nowhere. It's weird. But I do figure that these too will continue to get more and more infrequent as time goes by. Just like the rest of our quit though, progress is so gradual we don't notice it happening - it just does. That's it folks; time! It all just takes time so our job, once our quits are well established, is just to remain on guard and to be sure we aren't one of those coming back here after a year or so with our tails between our legs and starting this whole process over again.

[Whispers]

I'd be 9 years quit on feb 10 if i didn't blow a long quit, its addiction. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/addiction

 

 

I still pop around, from here to other groups. Its a demon we all have. Understand that's what it is.. I don't know if you know who Mike piano is but he'd call himself an alcoholic that was sober X years (a long time)... He was short and sweet but always on point

Edited November 7, 2018 by Whispers

[Martian5]

Well JB you are right it is getting old and we have to be on guard, and remember focus on what is NEW again!!!!

[Boo]

16 hours ago, Jet Black said:

The craves are not powerful but I want them gone. How the hell can the brain be so addicted to something so bad?

 

Craves are thoughts.  Nothing more.  They come and go.

 

We don't act on every thought that we have.  Most of us would be dead or in prison if we did.

 

Smoking thoughts are no different than the thousands of other thoughts that pass through our mind everyday.  They are only an issue if you act on them.

 

Don't fear random thoughts.

[Octain]

Hey Jet, 

We don’t smoke. That’s the end of that. 

 13 months is amazing. 

 

Personally I don’t think thoughts of smoking ever go away. We just get used to them and how to deal with them in our own way.  Addiction is addiction.

Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this but I went through a stent in my early to mid 20s with hard drugs and I still think about it around this time of year. I’m 53.

Cigarettes do nothing for us. They take away our time, our money and our health.

 

[Sirius]

Sometimes I think we have to quit each association separately.

 

You probably got it worked out that you don't smoke while driving or eating or working and everything is just fine until you, say, enroll in a college class and are walking on campus and that craving hits because you always smoked while in college and...your now in college.    

 

Spend enough time on the campus NOT smoking and the cravings will go away right up until you are studying late at night and you always smoked when you study late at night so....

 

Anyhow, we have to work through these associations by dissociating smoking with what we previously did smoking.  That or do completely different things as non smokers.  Its a pain but we get well practiced ignoring cravings.  The occasional momentary discomfort beats being on a ventilator.