Shanakor has lasted 3 days

[Shanakor]

Hello guys, 

I am planning on now gradually increasing the space in between my posts. So my next post will be when I hit the 5 day mark. Today I am officially in day 4!! Yeay, me :D 

Yesterday was an amazing day. I went on a hike with my best friend. I think I have not felt that good in years. 

The whole time I wondered, why quitting suddenly was so easy. I mean, sure there were tough moments, but not that many and not thaaat tough. 
Now I feel like I am being tormented by cravings for about 3 hours straight. I don't know why, but somehow the 6 minutes rule (apparently this is the average time a craving lasts) doesn't apply today. 

Am I doing something wrong, like thinking of something I should not be thinking about or is this all part of the process?

I think I prematurely celebrated not having significant cravings anymore and that is why it is hitting me twice as hard now. I already went for a walk to clear my head, but my feet are kind of sore from yesterday. Actually, I want to go for a walk again, but I am not sure whether it would be good for my body, as I do not want to over-stress it.

In addition to that, some rather scary things are going on in my life right now (I am preparing/executing different challenges right now). Do you think that the intense cravings and the difficult challenges are connected somehow? 

Not really an SOS, because I think I can push through these cravings, but please help me anyway. I think if something very stressful happened right now, I would break or at least it would be veeeery difficult for me to withstand the urge to smoke.

How was your 4th day like? 

[Reciprocity]

Well done on getting into day 4 :) There are several parts to your post that I want to give you my thoughts on. First, and maybe most importantly, you talked about how great you were feeling when you went of a hike with your friend. This is important because you are already noticing benefits to quitting this horrible addiction. Attitude can make a big difference in being successful with your quit. Try as much as you can to focus on the positive things rather then the difficult temporary symptoms.

 

The fact that you are fine with cravings sometimes and struggling with them at other times is normal for the early stage quit. It's a real roller coaster for a while but that WILL even out with time. Things are a little different for everyone in terms of timing but I can promise you that things WILL get better and easier to manage as time goes by. The 6 minute rule for a craving will not necessarily be the case always for you. Some are very short lived and other days, I can remember the whole day seemed like one big crave to smoke. Those are the days you really need to focus on maintaining your quit. As bad as things may seem on any given day, that won't last so just distract yourself any way you can during those times.

 

You also spoke about some challenges in your live and if those are connected to the way you are feeling about your quit. Not really but you are thinking they are because you still believe smoking will help when you are feeling anxious about something. This is dangerous thinking because that nicodemon inside your head is trying to make excuses for you to feel it's OK to smoke again. DON'T listen to that junkie thinking!! Good stuff and bad stuff is going to happen in your life whether you smoke or not. That's just life. All you are doing when you smoke is you feed the nicotine addiction. That's all smoking is. The constant feeding of the addiction. You don't do that any more and yes, that makes you feel anxious and will do until you put in enough time in your quit where your brain has rewired itself to allow you to live day to day life as a non-smoker and not feel like you are missing something. This is the part of quitting that takes a long time and you just have to put in that time in order to free yourself - we all do.

 

You will be fine Shanakor providing you adhere to the one simple rule of quitting - just NOPE every day no matter what :)

 

Another thing you might want to do is make a list of the reasons you wanted to quit in the first place and keep that list handy so you can take it out when you are feeling weak or anxious. You had reasons that were important enough that you were compelled to quit in the first place. Reminding yourself of those reasons often can help keep you on track.

 

You can make a post in the "Prerespond to Your Own SOS" thread. It's in the SOS Board Section at the top of the main page. The benefit of that is that if you ever feel you just can't carry on, read your own post about why you quit in the first place. It may just help to save your quit.

[PeaceTrain]

Am I doing something wrong, like thinking of something I should not be thinking about or is this all part of the process?

 

Not really an SOS, because I think I can push through these cravings, but please help me anyway. I think if something very stressful happened right now, I would break or at least it would be veeeery difficult for me to withstand the urge to smoke.

 

Hi Shanakor. I think you hit the nail on the head with your question about thinking of something you shouldn't. As evidenced by the statement at the end of your post, somewhere in your mind, you're still keeping smoking as an option. If you had taken that option away completely, you wouldn't have been having the thought that you'd break or it would be veeeery difficult to withstand the urge.

 

Smoking is NOT an option! NOPE!

[Shanakor]

Thanks for both of your answers :) 

Something inside of me says no to the pre-SOS post and something came to my mind at "PeaceTrains" answer. I think it is the same thing. 

PeaceTrain said, that somewhere in my mind I keep smoking still as an option. Thing is, I had already quit 6 months and the process of relapsing was horrible. I once heard that junkies often have the problem that they rather jump from the 2nd floor instead of falling from the 46th floor later on. 

I know that this is bullshit, that my brain tells me at this stage. But how do I replace this thought? If you give me a mantra, I will hammer it into my brain with all the power that I have got. I WANT to end this smoking bullshit once and for all.

[Boo]

Am I doing something wrong, like thinking of something I should not be thinking about or is this all part of the process?

 

Wanting to smoke after quitting is not a problem.  I'll say it again: smoking thoughts, like all thoughts, have exactly as much power as you give them.  It is the quitter's paradox: I don't want to be a smoker, but I would like to smoke a cigarette.  Any desire to smoke is attributable to addiction and conditioning.  If the thoughts simply disappeared upon quitting, breaking the cycle of addiction would be a non-issue.  Those moments when you want a cigarette but stay firm to your commitment to free yourself of that garbage...those are the moments where powerful quits are built.

 

I know that this is bullshit, that my brain tells me at this stage. But how do I replace this thought? If you give me a mantra, I will hammer it into my brain with all the power that I have got. I WANT to end this smoking bullshit once and for all.

 

No need to replace the thought.  Thoughts happen.  The bullshit has been identified and you have started the process of dismantling said bullshit.  Ending it once and for all is a simple matter of continuing to not put things in your mouth and light them on fire.

 

Trust the process and the process will reward you exponentially.

[Shanakor]

Thank you so much

[Doreensfree]

Wanting to smoke after quitting is not a problem.  I'll say it again: smoking thoughts, like all thoughts, have exactly as much power as you give them.  It is the quitter's paradox: I don't want to be a smoker, but I would like to smoke a cigarette.  Any desire to smoke is attributable to addiction and conditioning.  If the thoughts simply disappeared upon quitting, breaking the cycle of addiction would be a non-issue.  Those moments when you want a cigarette but stay firm to your commitment to free yourself of that garbage...those are the moments where powerful quits are built.

 

 

 

No need to replace the thought.  Thoughts happen.  The bullshit has been identified and you have started the process of dismantling said bullshit.  Ending it once and for all is a simple matter of continuing to not put things in your mouth and light them on fire.

 

 

Trust the process and the process will reward you exponentially.

Just this !!!!!

Keep marching ...one day at a time...the magic Will happen ...

Your body is now free of nicotine...look at this as a massive achievement !!!

[Shanakor]

Thank you, I will do. 

Today I had kind of a long period, where I felt very strange. I felt hugely successful and in control of my life, like I am finally going into the direction my life is supposed to go. Soo cool  :wub:

[Reciprocity]

Enjoy those moments to the fullest and be proud of what you have accomplished. You ARE in control of your life now that you have said NO to smoking :) As Boo said, thoughts only have the power YOU give them by either taking action on them or not. There's the control you have over the direction your life is going to go in and right now, you're going in a very positive direction!

[Boo]

Today I had kind of a long period, where I felt very strange. I felt hugely successful and in control of my life, like I am finally going into the direction my life is supposed to go. Soo cool  :wub:

 

Good times.  You are definitely going in the right direction and there's nothing but freedom ahead.

 

Enjoy the ride.