I am at that stage in my quit where physical cravings are remitting, or I could even say non-existent, really, but I´ve been here before and I have failed before, so I´m like a chameleon... looking here, looking there... looking for handles and looking for dangers...

 

I´ve been looking at smokers. My smoking friends, for instance.

 

People are either smokers, or non-smokers. Non-smokers are easy to define. I have it written on my mirror with blue eyeliner:

 

" Non-smokers do not smoke. Not one. Not ever"

 

But... what about smokers? Well, this may be a bit stupid or radical or nonsense, but it is helping me. Smokers smoke. All the time. And when they are not smoking with their mouth they are smoking with their mind.

 

Meaning: a smoker is not a person that smokes every now and then. You see a smoker with a cigarette in her mouth, and she is a smoker. But you see her indoors eating a steak, and she hasn´t stopped being a smoker. She hasn´t even stopped smoking. She may be gulping the steak down so that she can go out to smoke with her mouth the cigarette that she is already smoking in her head.

 

I know because I used to be one of them.

 

So when I see a smoker and I like the smell of their cigarette, or the expression of their face, I remember that. You have to choose: you are a smoker, or you are a non-smoker.

 

Either a) Not to smoke. Not one. Not ever. Until you don´t even think about it.

 

Or b.) To smoke 24/7. Always. With your mouth or with your mind. Smoke or crave. Until your last breath.

 

There is no "inbetween".

 

Somehow the choice seems much easier this way.

I like this Susana - if I wasn't getting my fix, I was always thinking about it...

I was once that "smoker" person.  Now I know how pathetic I must have looked. :(

 

I'm so  much happier as a non-smoker. I don't smoke :)

Smoking sucks all the time

 

Not smoking is good all the time

I like my freedom

So much truth in this point. If I wasn't smoking, I was thinking about smoking. I am so glad to be free of that cycle.

Exactly Susana

 

we choose to be non smokers x

Soo true xx

I agree. Those party-smokers or occasional smokers... I don't know how they do that. I was thinking about smoking all day long. It was like a prison, and chose to escape.

 

This is exactly where you get too in no mans land.  It's actually the catalyst I've used in helping people decide to quit. I bait them with "the craves were hard"...and they always respond with once you've quit....  no the all day every day craves of being a smoker!! It's utterly true. It's actually easier to quit then to smoke.

 

I think romancing and forever fears are the things that come up in this stage and make people fall off. Sometimes it was easier to just bring my brain back to base and go "not today" then let it wander off into the forever ether as that felt unmanageable.

 

xx

This is off topic but remember when you would finish your cig and go inside and while you were talking little puffs of smoke were still coming out of your mouth ? Eeeeuuu.,

This is off topic but remember when you would finish your cig and go inside and while you were talking little puffs of smoke were still coming out of your mouth ? Eeeeuuu.,

Education yes, I remember this- yuck!