Anxiety and panic steals so much . What can we do .

[Abby]

Most quit sites will tell you quit one day at a time . What does that mean ? It means to stay committed daily , persevere daily , it is about holding steady through all that quitting brings with it . 

 

Stress can take you on a rollercoaster of emotions many of which we exasperate to catastrophic porportions . This can lead to the fight / flight response , anxiety , panic attacks , depression or to smoking .

Perhaps you've experienced one or more of those things . 

 

Panic attacks can be absolutely debilitating and even anxiety itself can take your breath away .

 

Was smoking your normal response to reach out for comfort , needing to release the anxiety and find calm , catch your breathe ?

Craves are sometimes in response to past habits . Craves are even sometimes a self nurtured mind game we ourselves create .  If we believed the lie that smoking brought us comfort we can believe our way out of it too , by truth ! 

 

Do you still want to reach out to what's fooled you for years  . A cigarette ? Do you wanna keep them around for an in case scenario that might cause you panic or finally deal with stress , with difficult times and have that same calm without cigarettes . 

 

Smoking may relax you for ten minutes , it did me , but I believe it was because we get " out of ourselves " and detach  by using our smoking to focus on relaxing and breathing .So its my unprofessional opinion that we can control our thoughts over addiction , calm ourselves to a much more manageable levels of panic or anxiety by learning breathing techniques similar to smoking .

 

Pursed lip breathing , diaphragmatic breathing as well as many other breathing strategies are helpful .  Power of the mind , mind over matter . Once we feel calmer craves go away . Just saying " This too shall pass " can bring your breathing into more a managable state and your anxiety down . Craves like a fight , they'll fight back , so let them wash over you . Accept that they are what they are and even name them " craves " and they will go away . Breathe in relaxation and exhale the anxiety bringing yourself to a peaceful state of mind until they have past . They will pass . You can do that .  The more you practise  the easier it becomes . 

 

Anxiety and panic steal so much , much of what we worry about never happens and what we need be worried about we can get through . 

 

Hold steady ok , its not a race , you will get through one day at a time and you won't regret it . 

[Boo]

17 minutes ago, Abby said:

Smoking may relax you for ten minutes , it did me , but I believe it was because we get " out of ourselves " and detach  by using our smoking to focus on relaxing and breathing .So its my unprofessional opinion that we can control our thoughts over addiction , calm ourselves to a much more manageable levels of panic or anxiety by learning breathing techniques similar to smoking .

 

I had some goofy ideas about quitting smoking in the past.  For one, I associated "breaks" with smoking.  Thus, when I quit smoking I felt the need to give up breaks of any sort.  I finally figured out that I wasn't going to get bonus points for making the process more difficult than it needs to be.

 

Started taking "non-smoking breaks" throughout the day.  Sometimes, it would be a short walk-around.  Other times I would do some push-ups and/or pull-ups.  Many times my breaks consisted of nothing more than stepping outside and doing a bit of deep breathing.  A little pause for the cause is good way to reset yourself.

[Gus]

All of the above is so true. We just gotta breathe. And keep breathing. We just gotta say NOPE and keep saying NOPE.