Constant Smoking Thoughts

[pat108]

I am now into my fifth week of not smoking and over the past few days I seem to constantly be thinking about cigarettes and it is really making me angry!!!  There have been a few things going on that have been aggravating me so I assume that is what is triggering the thoughts.  Saturday I had gone to a carnival and passed a bunch of smokers who were in a designated area and the smell of all that smoke made me gag.  Today I went to the mall and as I was entering, I could smell cigarette smoke that smelt good.  This is something I can't figure out....one time the smell of smoke can smell good and the next it smells nasty.  Anyhow, through all of this confusion I am still remaining smokefree....I have brought a pack of chewing gum (regular gum) again to help with the battle going on in my brain.  I remind myself of all the good things going on with my body since I quit smoking...no more cough, feeling refreshed in the morning and no longer have that dragged out feeling.  I just want to reach the point where these thoughts leave.  I can handle once in awhile but not constant.  I also have a quit buddy to think about so I cannot, will not, refuse to light up again...that thought makes me sick.  This site has given me all the tools I need to keep up the fight....tools I wish I had the other times I tried to quit.  I am getting so desperate that I just might buy the lemons that Nancy and Dale recommend and start biting into them!!  🙂

[Ex_Nancy]

Hi Pat, those smokers at the stores are irritating...Allan Carr, (if you haven't read the Allen Carr book yet) said the only problem with quitting smoking is other smokers...it's actually okay... this too shall pass...img alt="" src="" />

[Ex_Nancy]

Also, memorize this...@ about 1 month into my quit I saw the (same bunch, I swear) smokers at the stores and it made me upset....so I found this from whyquit.com...

What happens to some people is that when they are off smoking for a certain time period they start fixating on a cigarette. By that I mean they forget all the bad cigarettes they ever smoked, they forget the ones they smoked without ever really thinking about them even at the time they were being smoked, and they start to remember and focus on one good cigarette. It may be one they smoked 20 years earlier but it was a good one and they now want one again.It's a common tactic for the ex-smokers to try and tell themselves that they do not really want that "good" cigarette. Well, the problem is, at that moment they really do want it. An internal debate erupts, "I want one, no I don't, one sounds great, no it doesn't, oh just one, not just one!" The problem is that if the ex-smoker's focus is on just "one" cigarette then there is no clear-cut winning side to the debate. The ex-smoker needs to change the internal discussion.

Don't say that you don't want one when you do, rather acknowledge the desire but ask yourself, "Do I want all the other cigarettes that go with it." Then, "do I want the package deal that goes with the others? The expense, social stigma, smell, health effects, possible loss of life. Do I want to go back to smoking, full-fledged, until it cripples and kills me?"

Stated like this it normally is not a back and forth debate. The answer will normally be, "No, I don't want to smoke under these terms," and those are the only terms that a cigarette comes with.Normally if viewed like this the debate is over almost immediately after being pulled into focus. Again, if the focus is only one, you can drive yourself nuts throughout the entire day. If you focus on the whole package deal, you will walk away from the moment relieved to still be smoke free and sufficiently reinforced to NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

[pat108]

Nancy, thanks so much!!!  I had been thinking of smoking when it "acceptable", when everyone smoked which was years ago and it was enjoyable at that time.  No....don't want that again knowing what I now know.  It is really great to come to this site and blog about any problems I am encountering with my quit and know that someone will reply within the hour to help me get over the hurdles.

[lisa11209]

Nancy gave you a great piece from whyquit.  There is something so calming in being able to say, why yes, I do want one cigarette but there is no way I want all the cigarettes that will follow, no way.  NOPE is the way to go.

[jojo_2-24-11]

Hi Pat, You are doing really great on not smoking. It's all a process. Have a little patience with yourself and take deep deep breaths to get through it and the lemon will take your mind off it. Nancy had another good one as well, put your head in the freezer and breath deep! That really works! I've done that one myself.

[pat108]

Thanks for the comments, Jojo...I have put my head in the freezer a couple of times while getting out ice cream.  🙂  I do have to remind myself that I have only been smokefree for five weeks although sometimes it feels like a million years ago when I smoked that last cig.

[pat108]

Lisa, I hear you loud and clear....NOPE is going to be my favorite word!!

[stonecipher]

Hey, quit buddy.  I hear you and I know.  We must be in NML now, I guess.  I am having thoughts, too.  It's like the addiction is say, "Okay, joke's over.  You can go buy a pack now and go back to the way it was."  I mean, I don't really WANT to do that, but yes, the smoking thoughts still intrude.

I find it helps sometimes to say to myself, "yes I want a cigarette.  But, I am not going to smoke a cigarette" in much the same way that I would say to myself, "yes, I want to tell this customer that he is an obnoxious moron and I resent his wasting my time.  But I am not going to do that."  In other words, there are things we want to do EVERY DAY that we don't do because of all the good reasons not to.  So, smoking is just one of those little things that we used to do but don't anymore now that we know better.  I think this will go away.

By the way, our 130-day-mark is September 14th, a Friday.

[pat108]

Hey there Stone.....I feel like I am in some kind of maze and can't find my way out.  I know one day that you and I are going to be laughing our heads off at this.  It just seems I will be doing good and then BAM....the smoking thoughts mess with me.  Ok...our 130 day mark is the week before my birthday....knew it was falling around that area.  I had planned on checking for the date tomorrow but looks like you beat me to it.  Ok....hubby is fixing me some ice cream so I am ending here.  Thanks for thew support quit buddy!!