What happens when you ignore a massive crave?

[Jonny5]

Nothing bad happens

Its an empty threat

good things do actually happen, you rewrite a trigger and heal a little more 

I learned this early on and it served me well. To the point that I sought out as many triggers as possible and threw myself into as much craving as possible.

Kind of like ripping off the plaster rather than slowly peeling 

[sgt.barney]

It's kind of awesome, ain't it?

 

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[Tink]

I missed you Jonny 5 - dont get all uppety now you are in the big cheese chair  :P keep your posts a coming

[Soberjulie]

I remember reading somewhere about the average length of a crave (is it 3 minutes or something like that?)

So during that first week or so, I used the timer on my iphone to actually time my crave.

About 30-40 seconds into it I would notice that it wasn't as intense physically as it was psychologically .....and I felt I had more control over the psychological factor than I had ever given myself credit for :)

So when a crave hit, I would begin immediately employing the simple tools I had learned here.

Deep breathing, glass of water, and get up and move.

Sitting still just enabled me to feed the craving whereas moving and forcing my thoughts elsewhere seemed to starve the crave :)

[babs609]

 I didn't avoid anything....I drank coffee, I drank beer, I sat outside with my smoking husband, I never asked him to move his smokes from my view, I even went outside with my smoking co -workers when the weather was nice (haha...didn't HAVE TO when it wasn't)

 

I do think protecting yourselves from your triggers does your quit a disservice.  The truth is...you are surrounded by triggers your entire life.  Instead of protecting yourself from them, arm yourself. 

 

Great post Jonnie!  :)

[Gemzee]

I didn't avoid anything....I drank coffee, I drank beer, I sat outside with my smoking husband, I never asked him to move his smokes from my view, I even went outside with my smoking co -workers when the weather was nice (haha...didn't HAVE TO when it wasn't)

 

I do think protecting yourselves from your triggers does your quit a disservice. The truth is...you are surrounded by triggers your entire life. Instead of protecting yourself from them, arm yourself.

 

Great post Jonnie! :)

I agree with this soooo much!! I have faced triggers head on since the start and it's definitely working for me!

[leahcaR]

 I didn't avoid anything....I drank coffee, I drank beer, I sat outside with my smoking husband, I never asked him to move his smokes from my view, I even went outside with my smoking co -workers when the weather was nice (haha...didn't HAVE TO when it wasn't)

 

I do think protecting yourselves from your triggers does your quit a disservice.  The truth is...you are surrounded by triggers your entire life.  Instead of protecting yourself from them, arm yourself. 

 

Great post Jonnie!  :)

so agree with this.  I do not believe in avoiding triggers.  they will only come appear at a time when you do not expect it later when you think you are strong and you will realize how hard it is facing that trigger for the first time no matter how far into your quit you are.  the more times exposed to a trigger the less of a trigger it is the next time.  fact. 

[Leanna]

Yes, facing triggers head-on is good. There are limits for some people, I think. If you're early on in your quit and you know drinking always leads to smoking, I would suggest maybe waiting a bit. Otherwise, you must face your triggers to create new normals for yourself. Changing your patterns is part of the quit process.

 

Good post!

[juanrmartino]

Today a faced a trigger, a friend asked me help reparing with work in his laptop and he was smoking all the time, i could do it! And i remembered this post

[leahcaR]

Today a faced a trigger, a friend asked me help reparing with work in his laptop and he was smoking all the time, i could do it! And i remembered this post

Wow way to go Juan. That's awesome!

[babs609]

THAT is awesome Juan!!  So proud of you!