Been a rough two days......

[...]

This last weekend was awesome. I did yard work, exercised, went to baseball games and had a few minor craves. Nothing I couldn't handle.

 

Then yesterday hits and it's one crave after another. I'm not even sure I would call em craves but more my mind telling me to smoke. I don't get it. I'm more than 6 weeks in and I'm still wanting to smoke ? Granted it's not hell week or even heck week. But is it too much to ask to just go on with life without having to think about it ?

 

I'm being patient. Not something I'm really good at. But I'm doing it. I know somewhere down the line, this will get better.

 

It just kinda sucks.

 

Sometimes I think this has got to be the hardest thing I've ever done. But I'm still climbing that rope..........

[ChRiSpY]

What were you doing yesterday when you had the craves????  Were you as busy as you were this weekend when you were not having the constant craves????  Stay busy... get your mind on other stuff.  The craves will go away...I promise.  What I used to do in my early quit was when I had a crave I said to myself that I would not even pay any attention to it for another 10 minutes...then I would think about it.  EVERYTIME...I forgot about it.  Work out a routine...what are you Tiffany going to do to combat the bullshit?  The craves will get further an further apart until you go a whole day without thinking about it... then a whole week...etc etc etc.

 

Keep on keepin on... your progress is awesome to this point

[REZ]

This will be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life and after a couple of months your are going to be feeling good, and grinning from ear to ear with pride that you quit!

 

You were an addict just like me and everyone else here and even though we give each other moral support, its ultimately you, your will power, your heart and soul, your commitment that beats it!

 

It does get easier little by little and you get stronger and stronger as the toxins leave your body and as the smoke clears from around your head, you will take control of your mind again! 

 

Hang in there and keep yourself busy by exercising, reading and post here, anything but sitting and thinking about a cigarette! Keeping the hands busy seems to help a lot too!

 

Best of luck to you!

[El Bandito]

Hey Tiff

 

My mind was making up craves long after they had gone...we call them craves but they are not really, just mild annoyances.

 

Just laugh and ignore them!

[Doreensfree]

Aww tiff....I know somedays are hard....but they get fewer and fewer....

Keep winning the battles,and you will win the war....

Look how far you have come.....this is brilliant.....

Fight.....

[Tink]

I know it's disappointing TIFF but try to ride the rough with the smooth

 

Everyday your body is healing, our minds seem to take longer to catch up but I do know from my own experiences is the more I dwelled on the rough stuff the harder it was, the more I ignored it or looked around why it was so rough the easier it was to handle

 

Six weeks was a turning point for me mentally

 

Jonny 5 told me I hadn't given up anything, I quit

 

You have chosen to quit TIFF, you DO NOT want to smoke and 6 weeks in you certainly do not need to smoke

 

When it hits you keep saying over and over I do not won't or need it!! Say it enough times and the brain will get the message, then it won't get to the point where you are fighting or struggling against it so much you can squash the thought

 

Keep swimming hun, I promise calm waters lay ahead xx

[Susana]

Tiffany. You can do this. It is shit now, but it will feel great after ... maybe one more day? maybe one more weekend? maybe one more week? Even if it was one month it would be worth it!

 

I´m in the same boat as you are. Ready to jump out... but what if safe land is only one night away? Well, I´m holding on for the time being... and so should you.

 

OK, if by Christmas it is the same shit as it is now, we both relapse. Deal? But not before. Let´s give this quit a chance, shall we?

 

:(

[JackiMac]

I test myself, its crazy I don't have craves anymore I just allow the thought to enter my head and think what if, playing with fire I know, but I can't stop myself, it only lingers for a second or two but still there, and sometimes get that Whoa feeling in the pit of my stomach as though something major is missing from my life, but hey I don't smoke xx

[MarylandQuitter]

Then yesterday hits and it's one crave after another. I'm not even sure I would call em craves but more my mind telling me to smoke. I don't get it. I'm more than 6 weeks in and I'm still wanting to smoke ? Granted it's not hell week or even heck week. But is it too much to ask to just go on with life without having to think about it ?

 

 

If you weren't thinking about smoking at this stage in your quit, you'd probably be in trouble.  Good video below explaining what you're dealing with. 

 

http://www.quittrain.com/topic/2096-joel-spitzers-quit-smoking-video-library/?p=46870

[beacon]

I can honesty tell you that I am rarely bothered with craves now. Some times I want one, when I am driving usually. And when I say want one, it is more like the habit of smoking in the car since the day I started driving is so ingrained that it has yet to go away, Other times I reminisce for a minute, like oh I used to smoke and drink and eat and stay out all night in my youth. These are thoughts, not the urges I used to have. I know one day this too will be gone.

 

I think you just keep plugging along, with unfortunately some suffering along with the rewards, until there has been enough time until the craves go away.

[Nicole Diver]

I can honesty tell you that I am rarely bothered with craves now. Some times I want one, when I am driving usually. And when I say want one, it is more like the habit of smoking in the car since the day I started driving is so ingrained that it has yet to go away, Other times I reminisce for a minute, like oh I used to smoke and drink and eat and stay out all night in my youth. These are thoughts, not the urges I used to have. I know one day this too will be gone.

I think you just keep plugging along, with unfortunately some suffering along with the rewards, until there has been enough time until the craves go away.

I agree. Some suffering, but the rewards are endless.

[Frezflops]

the craves (for lack of a better term) come and go in the early weeks but as time goes by they become more and more infrequent do I occasionally think about a cig now after almost 2 years yes but it is very very weak and infrequent and nothing I cant laugh off..........it does get better and it is sooo worth the pain :) you got this and you are doing very well :)

[bakon]

What are you wanting. Crap breath. Stink on you. Relaxing feeling. You can have that with pudding.

[Still winning]

I think it's normal to get some bad days around now ish in your quit. 

 

A few people said it was normal to get triggers around this time as you are settling into a non smoking life, but your brain is remembering when you would have smoked.  If you let that thought process roll, it becomes more intense, if you dismiss it and distract yourself it eases off quite quickly.

 

That said it sucks to have those hard days. Your quit is solid though tiff, just let the thoughts come and go, nothing can control you unless you let it.

 

xx

[El Bandito]

The below really helped me understand...

 

Triggers: Reminders From Your Executive Assistant 

 

 

Original post : Kattatonic Gold/ Freedom member. 

 

 

"It's all in your head" has developed a really bad rap in our culture. What's up with that? The power of the brain is remarkable. We should marvel and be impressed. 

 

Has anyone told you that since physical withdrawal is over... get a grip... or get over it... or something like that? 

 

What about patience with yourself? You've been informed that it's psychological after 2 weeks . Do you think the impulse to smoke should stop now, now, now? 

 

Do you think impulses after you have quit for a while indicate you are weak? 

Quite the contrary, actually. Your brain is working as designed. 

 

Okay, listen up. Your brain is amazing. Every time you do anything, one function your brain performs is to try to save you time and prevent you from repeating past mistakes. So quickly and subconsciously, your brain scans the memory banks for similar circumstances whenever you do anything. When it finds comparable history, it compares that with what you are doing now and alerts you to differences, just like an efficient little assistant. 

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Yesterday I pulled on my day pack, went out the front door and turned left to walk up the street. Suddenly I am hit with a trigger. Why? Because I haven't turned left off my front stoop since before I quit. I quit in the winter and I have either gone out the back door to my car, or turned right to walk to the subway. Turning left means I am going to bother to walk to the grocery, which I haven't done since I quit. 

 

The part of my brain that tries to save me time, let's call him the Executive Assistant (the EA), recalled past left turns from the stoop. He went down a checklist. What did she need / what did she use on previous excursions like this? Wallet? Check. Keys? Check. Bags? Check. Smokes? NOPE. "Ah, ah, ah, excuse me!" I could imagine him running up behind me yesterday as I set out and picked up pace. "You've forgotten your cigarettes! You're going to need your cigarettes when you get to the café!" (I treat myself to a special coffee when I bother to walk to the market.) 

 

Remember all those times you forgot your cigarettes and kicked yourself? It was such an inconvenience when you were an active using addict. Back then, your reaction went something like this: "Memo to self. Don't forget the cigarettes!" What I'm calling the 'EA' function in your brain monitors these memos. He got the memos and he's acting on them. He got thousands of memos like that! 

 

The poor guy is just trying to do his job. So I thanked my EA for trying to save me frustration, reminded him that I no longer smoke and that he should refer to the new Never Take Another Puff memo. 

 

After my coffee up the street, I paused to listen to the Let's-Smoke trigger, a little different and a more uncomfortable than the Forgot-Your-Cigarettes trigger. There he was again, but this time trying to get me to actually smoke! What a guy! His reasoning? "You've eaten, walked and coffeed, you're about to shop... you are going to want a smoke before you know it and you'd always rather smoke here than while walking home. Always! Always!" 

 

This guy is no dummy. I did in fact send him that memo many, many times. For heavens sake, I smoked for 25 years. The filing cabinets are full of those old memos. 

 

How to teach an old dog new tricks? Well the EA in our brains can and does learn new routines all the time. We may learn slower as we age but we do still learn and adapt, especially if we do it consciously. We have to note new memos to ourselves, sometimes several times and we have to be kind to ourselves... or our ‘EAs’. The kinder and calmer you are, the more chance you have of him 'getting it' each time. So what to do in the café? 

 

I said to my EA, "Thanks! I appreciate the reminder but you have to look at the newer One = All memo again. I am not going to smoke today or ever. Please remember that coffee time is no longer smoke time." 

 

He will get it; I know he will. It will just take a while and a walk through all my various scenarios. He is really very, very good. He learned so well the first time -- I have to give him time to learn the new mandate. 

 

Thanks for reading my ramblings. You are doing it,! It is doable! It does get better and it is worth it... wait! Make that, YOU are worth it. Yes, you are.The factor that really shows the addiction is not how hard or how easy it is to quit. What really shows the addiction is how universally easy it is to go back. One puff and the quit can go out the window.UCanQuit 

[Doreensfree]

I can honesty tell you that I am rarely bothered with craves now. Some times I want one, when I am driving usually. And when I say want one, it is more like the habit of smoking in the car since the day I started driving is so ingrained that it has yet to go away, Other times I reminisce for a minute, like oh I used to smoke and drink and eat and stay out all night in my youth. These are thoughts, not the urges I used to have. I know one day this too will be gone.

I think you just keep plugging along, with unfortunately some suffering along with the rewards, until there has been enough time until the craves go away.

Awww beacons mum.....

Hi ,it's a pleasure to meet you.....very insperational.....thank you....

[ChRiSpY]

What are you wanting. Crap breath. Stink on you. Relaxing feeling. You can have that with pudding.

 

You can't have pudding if you don't eat your meat.

[jimmy]

tiffany hang in there it will be worth it wait and see   can say how long it will be  but it will get better keep fighting your worth it   choose life  I kn ow its  not easy all the time  you have us to  lean on :D

[...]

If you weren't thinking about smoking at this stage in your quit, you'd probably be in trouble. Good video below explaining what you're dealing with.

 

http://www.quittrain.com/topic/2096-joel-spitzers-quit-smoking-video-library/?p=46870

I'm so glad to hear that this is normal. I was wondering why I'm doing this. It's like I'm in week one again, not with the physical aspect of it, but the mental. My thinking is all fuzzy, I'm depressed, I want to sleep all the time and I "feel" like I want to smoke. I, honestly, thought I was past this part. I just can't seem to get motivated to do anything.

 

I know this will pass. And I will surely be one happy camper when it does. It sure doesn't make quitting easy.

[Devil Doll]

Tiffany there were/are times in my quit when I experience all that you just mentioned. It passes. Earlier in my quit I had a really hard time and it happened around celebration time of month 1 and 2. I just kept reminding myself that I never want to go through the first week again and that giving in and smoking isn't going to make anything better. 

[...]

DD, that's exactly what I keep reminding myself. I don't want to have to do this again. That it's a process and I just gotta go through it. Like being pregnant. And labor.

 

It does help knowing that I'm not the only one that has felt this.