July 8, 201412 yr I am fixing to go on vacation and I'm so excited to get to spend time with my kids. I work all year for this one week out of the year that is totally devoted to them. It's my favorite week. And I am craving to SMOKE !!! I don't even want a cigarette. I can't explain it. It's like my body wants it and my mind doesn't. Am I trying to sabotage my own quit ? I'm getting angry about this. I just want to go on with my life without having to deal with this. Maybe I'm tired. I have been doing so good and running all over town getting ready for this trip and maybe I'm just exhausted.. I'm not going to smoke. I'm not in any danger of doing it. This is MY quit and I'm keeping it. I guess I just needed to vent. I can't wait until the day that this is all over with and I don't even think about them anymore.
July 8, 201412 yr tiffany you got this your doing great were would we be with out you next time a crave hits ask yourself what would john say to help you with your crave or any of us we would be glad to help keep venting it helps ktq rember we are here if and when needed love jimbo
July 8, 201412 yr The crave has no power over you. YOU are the only person who can light a cigarette & smoke it - as long as you don't do that, you'll be fine :)
July 8, 201412 yr I hear you Tiff. It does get pretty annoying. Keep moving forward and enjoy the heck out of your vacation. :)
July 8, 201412 yr Tiffany - sorry you are feeling this way .... The problem is that your mind is associating your vacation with smoking - so maybe you need to retrain your mind .... How about using an affirmation about how great non smoking vacations are - any time you get a crave ?? Every time you face down a crave you get stronger - so Once you get through this process without smoking it will be so much easier next time ... In the mean time just keep reminding yourself how great it is to not smoke - and how much easy travel and everything you are going to do will be !
July 8, 201412 yr I agree with pip it sounds like because the vacation was a major event your brain is associating, but it's good this has come out before you go as you can plan ahead Vacations was always my worries but the fear beforehand made me plan and I got through them easier then thought My pre plans: Always have water to hand Read or type Go for walks If you get a strong crave, jump in shower, pool or sea Drink water in between booze Have healthy snacks or candy on you or in the room at all times Tell people you are going with your fears so they can help you Post an SOS if you need to Make a list of all the positives to stay a non smoker Try to avoid smokers if they sit next to you, move to a different spot Treat yourself to some tasty food and celebrate Time now Tiff to sit down with your good self and tell you brain to shut the heck up as that's not who or what you do anymore no matter where you go, who you are with, what you are doing or how drunk, mad or stressed you are Eventually it will listen No need to be fearful But being prepared is a good thing You are doing so awesome tiff x
July 8, 201412 yr Hey Tiff, Associations, yep! It's setting off triggers. Girls above have covered it, get yourself a good plan and pronto!! Totally ok, totally normal, still really sucks doesn't it!! What I want tosay in addition to that is that craves will come and go. For some reason we half expect the power of us not wanting to smoke will make them go away...but that's a timings thing hun. The positive thinking just takes us past them. Get mad, tell em to go f themselves. Also my biggest and quickest way of getting past a crave after a couple of weeks was to remember how many I had smoked a day (for me 30-40). So I'd kinda say, I may want one but I don't want the other 39 and then 40 a day from then on!! Which of course is true! It kinda made me baulk enough that the crave lost it's strength as I really didn't want the health loss and financial loss of that again. Also Doreen used to say smoking is not on the table. I used that and NOPE a lot to move past craves. And hard candies. And junk food lol. You are doing AMAZING!! Have a "atta girl" from me :) xx
July 8, 201412 yr It's true that the only way to make these feelings go away is by not smoking... One day you will be where you want to be, and that is not craving at all. I hope you have a great trip, and we are here if you need us :)
July 8, 201412 yr Hi tiff...... Every time you win a battle......your nearer to winning the war....... Fight this enemy...... It will come I promise ..... Hugs
July 8, 201412 yr I can remember feeling like this too, and it got on my nerves. I think it's just a case of realistic expections really Tiff. Past holidays included excitedly smoking during the build up and during. I have no answer on how to stop you getting cross at the thoughts, your Chimp book will help with that, but will say the thoughts and associations don't last forever...you have my word. Hope you and yours have a fabulous holiday.
July 8, 201412 yr You got to retrain your brain. I think I told you in another post.... the same thing happen to me. Have you ever taken this vacation without smoking? I am guessing not. it just seems like routine to you. Push forward Tiff... you have a new routine now and it does not include smoking. Get through this vacation and then the next one you will not have a hard time. Not smoking to me... is not even an issue anymore. Keep on keepin on...and enjoy your vacation and your non smoking life.
July 8, 201412 yr Hi tiff...... Every time you win a battle......your nearer to winning the war....... Fight this enemy...... It will come I promise ..... Hugs I could not say this any better. Time is your friend. :)
July 8, 201412 yr One I saved that explained it to me... Tiff. Just laugh! 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
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