I have been thinking about putting up a topic for quitters who aren't Newbies anymore and/or have been quit for over a year. Sometimes we do get cravings and/or thoughts about smoking, so we can put our thoughts and anything that happened to us after the initial one year. I will go first because I had a thought last night, I wouldn't call it a craving, so it was just a thought. I went out with very good friends of ours last night for dinner. And the wife of the couple who we are friends with smokes. When we finished dinner and left the restaurant, she lights up which is fine with me, I am not one of those bad Ex-smokers that complain that people don't smoke in front of me. Anyway, the moment she lit up, for a split second I looked at her cigarette and just went back to looking around. It really didn't bother me, which is good, but we are always addicts, and we cannot ever go back! That is why this site is so important.👍

I want to have this thread for people who are quit from a year plus. @MarylandQuitter Can you put this as a pin up on the top, so people can post here, if they had the same sort of situation that I did yesterday? I guess that's what you call it when a post stays on the top. Thanks!!👍

I still had weird thoughts, not exactly cravings, but thoughts about lighting up after my first year smoke free.

I have also been someone who has had weird issues with smoking dreams where I would smoke and either feel good or horrible about it, and then wake up and, for a brief moment, wonder if I broke my quit. Then I realize that it was just a dream.

I have not had a craving or serious thought about lighting up in a long time but I still get the occasional smoking dream that I remember after I woke up.

Nicotine is a very addictive drug, both physically and psychologically. It is said that after the first few days nicotine free, your physical addiction becomes dormant, unless you consume nicotine again. You are still an addict but the physical cravings aren't there. I I believe that is true based on my experience.

I think the psychological addiction is the long term threat that does, sadly, lead some ex-smokers back to smoking. You have certain memories or associations that are linked to smoking and some people unfortunately let their guard down with the whole thought of "one smoke will not hurt." After you have been quit for a while, you have to watch out for that occasional psychological thought coming out of nowhere. Those thoughts are not often but they are what you need to watch out for long into your quit.

Guard your quit, even years into it.