Tests, tests, tests

[AnnetteMM]

Holiday.  Social gathering.  Meeting new people.  Being somewhere unfamiliar and having to stay there for hours.  Can you say "social anxiety"?  

I realized that in the past I'd use cigarette breaks as a way to briefly escape social pressure.  I mentioned it to my stepdaughter and we went outside together.  She smoked; I did not.  Thought about it, but wasn't actually tempted.

My hostess (stepdaughter's boyfriend's mother ) automatically handed me a glass of wine.  I hadn't had any wine the whole time I've been a nonsmoker.  I drank it.  It did create a little smoking trigger for awhile, so I didn't have a second glass.  But again, I mentioned it and it was okay.

I find that as long as I acknowledge and talk about what's happening, I can more easily stay not smoking.  And while I think about smoking and feel the temptation sometimes, I don't really want to smoke and that's making all the difference.