stress

[laura]

Why is it whenever I try to quit smoking I encounter what seems like more stress.

 

I didn't get the job I went for plus I have had another argument with my son.

[El Bandito]

Sounds like a tough day Laura - I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Keep going for jobs - its a numbers game. You have to get a certain amount of Nos before you get a Yes.

 

Never had a son - but been one. Arguing with Mum is unavoidable! (Doesn't mean I don't love her though - just means Im an eejit)

 

Everyone gets stress.

 

Smokers, Non Smokers. Makes no difference.

 

Don't let your junkie convince you that smoking has any impact on stress.

 

IT DOES NOT.

 

Big hugs Laura.

[Still winning]

I think all our emotions are heightened early part of our quit.  That's ok.  A wallow day is also perfectly acceptable, but smoking isn't.  Your brain is using an excuse that it presented you before - do not fall for it!  Non smokers have trials/stress/bad days/sadness and they don't smoke. Me either! I hope you are ok Laura and I feel for you,  sounds like a bad day, but trust that even though you are grumpy you are ok.  Every time you don't succumb to a trigger your resolve on that one gets stronger.  So now I can argue with anyone and not want to smoke, it only took 2 months for that whole trigger to dissapear if it helps to have anothers experience. Not long really.

 

Hugs to you.  

 

xx

[...]

I think all our emotions are heightened early part of our quit.  That's ok.  A wallow day is also perfectly acceptable, but smoking isn't.  Your brain is using an excuse that it presented you before - do not fall for it!  Non smokers have trials/stress/bad days/sadness and they don't smoke. Me either! I hope you are ok Laura and I feel for you,  sounds like a bad day, but trust that even though you are grumpy you are ok.  Every time you don't succumb to a trigger your resolve on that one gets stronger.  So now I can argue with anyone and not want to smoke, it only took 2 months for that whole trigger to dissapear if it helps to have anothers experience. Not long really.

 

Hugs to you.  

 

xx

^^^^ Everything she just said......

 

Hang in there.  It will get better.

[babs609]

It just seems that way but stress is ongoing for most of us.

 

Hang in there

[sgt.barney]

You will be stressed whether you smoke, don't smoke, quit, try quitting, give up, relapse, stay quit or not ...  

 

The stress is independent of all this.

 

One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

 

Successful quitters learn this.

 

Serial relapsers never quite understand it.

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[laura]

I get so frustrated with the debate situations in my head, have a fag don't have a ciggie

 

my 11 year old daughter said to me mum you know if you have a ciggie you won't feel better and your lungs will get black remember what you watched the other day don't think it won't happen to you love her

[...]

I get so frustrated with the debate situations in my head, have a fag don't have a ciggie

my 11 year old daughter said to me mum you know if you have a ciggie you won't feel better and your lungs will get black remember what you watched the other day don't think it won't happen to you love her

Sounds like your daughter knows what she's talking about. Isn't it amazing how smart and insightful our little ones are ?

 

Listen to her. She loves you and needs you.

[Still winning]

Laura, Your daughter sounds like she wants you to fight the dodgy nicotine battle, on you go!  We need to show our children that this was always pointless to do and we value them and our health for them more then an addiction. Rooting for you. xx

[El Bandito]

Out of the mouths of babes.....

 

Keep fighting on Laura. You've got this!

[laura]

I will not smoke just can't wait to stop thinking about it i have been fine so frustrating.

so i didn't get the job i have a job so it's not like I'm jobless.

 

Thanks for the support :-)

[Still winning]

Laura with everytime you do "that" (the I won't smoke) you move forward your quit. You face down the trigger, accept it is part of your life for now but won't always be. Annoyance is better then the alternatives....

 

Pleased for you, plan a treat with the money you're saving maybe?

[Colleen]

Laura,

What Marti said, each time you stare down a trigger, the next time it becomes easier.  Just hang on, it's going to get better, I can promise you that.

[sgt.barney]

I get so frustrated with the debate situations in my head

 

What debate?

 

You don't allow a debate [1]

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

 

 

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Ol' Nancy had it right, waaaaay back in the 1980's.

[JackiMac]

Hi Laura, sorry to hear you are having a hard time, I think when we allow our guard down when we are stressed, tired, upset etc etc, the junkie addict inside us goes Aha here is an opening i'll try and sneak back in, as has been said from the wonderful advice above, stress is in our lives whether we are smokers or not, but if you relapsed the stress will be greater for you, smoking will not solve any problems, only add to them, don't allow the thought to grow Laura, its difficult I know, facing it myself at the minute, its putting one step in front of the other, you've done absolutely fantastic facing your crave and beating it, we just can't allow the excuses to win us over, keep going Laura, I fight with my son all the time he is 22, but after it we always hug and talk about it, he is just pushing his boundaries, but at the end of the day you are his mum and always will be, and he will always love you for that. xx

[action]

I get so frustrated with the debate situations in my head, have a fag don't have a ciggie

my 11 year old daughter said to me mum you know if you have a ciggie you won't feel better and your lungs will get black remember what you watched the other day don't think it won't happen to you love her

Laura, you daughter sounds very smart.

 

Like many others have said, we all get stress... Smoking does not cure stress, it makes it worse! Your mind is just trying to give you am excuse to smoke!! I still have stress in my life, but I handle it so much better than I used to!! When I was a smoker I was stressed constantly because of the withdrawal, now I am just stressed occasionally :)

[comrade simba]

If you stomp off in the middle of an argument to smoke a cig you aren't arguing with that person. See how the cig magically eliminated the stress! Putting tab A into slot B (or any other dumbo task) getting you all worked up? Smoke one and five minutes later we're okay again with the tab A slot B ordeal. For 20 minutes... heh heh. (We wanted an excuse to get a fix).

 

Tying your shoes for the first time with out a cigarette is stressful. When I first quit I happened to be watching the "Fringe" series on netflix. Made perfect sense - I'm still me but dropped into a parallel universe where everything is mostly the same - except I don't smoke. Of course it's gonna be weird. I'm getting used to it.

[Leanna]

Sorry you're having a rough go Laura. :( 

 

But there will always be stress, regardless if you're a smoker or non-smoker.

 

Smoking just gave us an excuse to walk away and avoid the situation. It did nothing to decrease the stress. Your inner junkie is lying to you. When you were finished smoking, the problem was still there. 

 

The more you disassociate yourself with smoking, the less you'll want to smoke whenever these stressful situations arise. 

 

Trust me when I tell you this is not a forever thing; you WILL eventually forget about smoking. 

[laura]

Thanks guys I am so happy I beat the craving today I went out for a Chinese with my friend. Feeling proud :-)

[Melody]

I too argued with myself. It got tiring, so very tiring. That was the point I started telling the addiction to "shut up" and "go away". Out loud. Yes I felt weird about it but it helped. It was me making the decision to shut down the addiction and not allowing it to have a choice in my life anymore. Take back control, tell it "NO" and "Go Away"! Each time you say those things the easier and easier it gets. Your taking back control, taking back your life.

 

And like the others have said, everyone has stress. You will have stress whether you smoke or not. Don't let nicotine make the decision that smoking will relieve the stress because it unequivocally will not.

[Nicole Diver]

Sounds like a tough day Laura - I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Keep going for jobs - its a numbers game. You have to get a certain amount of Nos before you get a Yes.

 

Never had a son - but been one. Arguing with Mum is unavoidable! (Doesn't mean I don't love her though - just means Im an eejit)

 

Everyone gets stress.

 

Smokers, Non Smokers. Makes no difference.

 

Don't let your junkie convince you that smoking has any impact on stress.

 

 

IT DOES NOT.

 

Big hugs Laura.

I could not have worded this so well. We are here for you Laura!

[El Bandito]

Great job Laura. 

 

Notice how the Chinese tasted better?

 

Every crave battle won gets you closer to winning the war.  :)

 

Off to a funeral today. Expecting a mini-crave. I'll laugh at it and point out the irony of it...then I won't smoke.

 

And - I'll feel good about it.

 

Every day is a little victory Laura - and it gets easier. You are doing great. Just keep on keeping on.

[ArmedNAruba]

My best friend quit a year before I did. Both his parents passed away within a 5 month span after he quit. He still hasn't smoked.

 

 

If stress was a direct cause of smoking, nobody would quit. A strong mind that WANTS to quit will quit.