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 . 

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.

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