Today

[Linda]

I had a good Thanksgiving day yesterday. But I got

up this AM made my coffee and for some reason 

I have this overwhelming thought that I want a cigarette.

No trigger that I realize. But I won't smoke so not really an SOS,

but all I can think where did that come from  Telling myself this to

will pass.

[Cbdave]

G’day

trust me on this one. Every one of these sneaky ones meats the same resolve …. You know the results…. Puff. Loss of all strength. 
Face them and they slither away … like I said powerless 

[Kris]

 I wish I could help but the truth is still that I want to smoke. It does make a difference that there are people here have been able to do this.  You are right...it will pass.  We just have to be patient.

[Kate18]

I don't know about other successful quitters, but the passing of time has made it easier and easier to deal with a desire for a cigarette. 

The feeling of wanting one is less frequent, it's milder and fleeting. 

 

It's a reinforcement that I see ticker racking up the days I've not smoked, the thousands of cigarettes not smoked, and money saved. 

 

Ah, just remembered, there is also the amount of time I've not wasted smoking. If I count each cigarette as a use of 15 minutes (to get to a smoking place, smoking, and returning to where ever I needed to get back to), I've saved 3,217 hours. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Kate18

[Doreensfree]

Linda an Kris ....

Your both still in early quit stage ....

You smoked for Decades....of course your bound to have thoughts ...

It what you do with those thoughts that matter ....

If you didn't t smoke ...your a Winner ....

It's ok to have wobbles ....just steady yourself and don't fall over ....

The next Thanksgiving will feel so much different....

[KEL]

Is it a "thought" (habit) to smoke or a true desire to smoke? 

For me, smoking served as a pacifier. I had severe physical trauma when I was little (2-3 years old) and, as a result, I sucked my thumb for years. I believe smoking was an extension of that, i.e. the need for some type of primal comfort. I had to go to speech therapy which was shaming. Braces for years.

In unpacking this over the last four years (when I got serious about quitting), I realized that smoking does not do much to pacify the fear. In fact, it heightened it and kept it going. The more I smoked, the longer I smoked, the shittier I felt about myself. It was a spiral.

I still have thoughts of smoking regularly-how could I (we) not? But every time I do, I remember just how bad it felt to do it. Somewhere there is the belief that we can go back to a time when smoking felt "good." I don't doubt there were many times I "thought" it was helping. Or was fun. But the truth is it hurt. And it smelled. And it made me feel disgusted with myself.

What has begun to shift things for me (although not instantaneously) is to remove the thought/belief/feeling that smoking conferred any benefit whatsoever. I am militant with myself on this. 

Not sure if any of this resonates. Thanks for sharing and I'm sending prayers for strength your way.