while I was partaking in some gambling at our local casino the other day...I sat at this machine..smelled the faint smell of cigarette smoke and thought..."it would be great to just have one little....."  

 

WHAT???????   :angry:  :blink:  Where is the world did that come from?????

 

After all the times I go in that casino...seeing all the smokers, smelling the smells...staying in an area of the casino where smoking is prohibited in most areas anyway...hating the way my clothes smell after I leave there, not to mention the education, the support here...the benefits of quitting...after nearly 5 years of smobriety....

 

.and here I was...sitting there...ready to fantasize about...>SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!  ugghhhhhh!!  

 

I guess that's the part that sucks...smoking or not smoking...it's always going to be a "thing"--people who never smoked don't even think about smoking..or the fact that they aren't smoking...or even celebrate the fact that they don't smoke at all except the occasional.."glad I never got started" speech.  

 

the restlessness I feel in my life at times...as if there is something missing...there is always that risk that associating these feelings with wanting a smoke.  Not saying it's necessary or imminent...but having been a smoker..I am at risk of these natural Knee jerk reactions to come out of left field. But, thanks to my knowledge...they have no strength.  That is the important part.  

That sounds really scary. Your signature says it all though.

Yes, you are completely correct. You can get to the point where you have suppressed the addiction to the point you can live very happily and easily every day but occasionally, just very occasionally something happens and your brain immediately links you back to thoughts of smoking, although they are just a passing thought that you can easily deal with.

 

My wife says the same thing and she has been quit for many many years.

 

And don't worry Feely, the thoughts we are taking about are just those - thoughts, not compelling craves or urges that you are dealing with now. Those don't come back ever once you are far enough along. They only get weaker and weaker.

exactly R.....I want the newbies to know that these moments don't go away (for most of us)..but they do weaken as time goes on and also more time goes on between these moments (I think my last time was about a year ago!)

I remember being a newbie and 6 months into my quit i was hit by a hard craving that wouldn't seem to go away and I remember thinking...OMG I am doomed for life!!  But it's just not true...Not doomed. Not by a long shot.  

 

LIFE is AMAZING without putting things in my mouth and lighting them on fire...and not having the NEED to do it is even more amazing.  

Sometimes I get a fleeting thought..very few and far between..I just call myself a idiot..and it goes

It's not a crave ..it's just a quick thought... The same as ..we need some bread..

Newbies...I was just like you were... The magic will happen...

Addict.

Last time the ole' lady and I went to the casino it was so she could sing Rock Band Karaoke at the bar inside.  When we got home we were so sickened by the smell of our clothes that we both stripped down in the laundry room so that it did not smell up our room,.  

 

BONUS... we were both stripped down naked in the laundry room.  ;)

Last time the ole' lady and I went to the casino it was so she could sing Rock Band Karaoke at the bar inside.  When we got home we were so sickened by the smell of our clothes that we both stripped down in the laundry room so that it did not smell up our room,.  

 

BONUS... we were both stripped down naked in the laundry room.  ;)

you need to go to casino more often!  Or meet up in the laundry room!  

By not acting on the thought, it does not have any new reinforcing energy with which to reappear in the future, so this thought will probably not happen again in the situation your were in (in the casino).

 

This we can call, "Killing permanently the crave".

 

 

The mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery from nicotine addiction from Day1 of your quit until the day you die, is based upon killing thoughts such as this. 

 

The more you deny them reinforcing energy (by not smoking), the quicker they disappear from your life.....permanently. (Babs already know this :D).

 

 

 

Cristóbal

correct!

 

Good to "see" you Cristobal!

I agree with cristobal. Drain the energy. It won't return as strong as before. And remember also all those blissful times yiu are free from craving or any thought of smoking.

 

That is freedom from the day in and day out chain of nicotine addiction.

It's funny...because after quitting smoking I avoided the casino for 2 whole years because I was afraid it would be a trigger.  I have been going now for almost 3 years and it never really hit me like that...till the other day.

 

I squashed it like a bug!

Good for you Babs. Life gets back to normal. Some of us are never truly free of intrusions of the nicotine addiction. But we are free of the chains of addiction

 

 

BONUS... we were both stripped down naked in the laundry room.  ;)

Any pics?

Any pics?

 

Ummmm.. trust me... you don't want to see that.