Day Two Slip Up

[smokerfor12years]

This morning was horrible! I woke up and the only thing on my mind was a cigarette. I slipped up and bought a loose cigarette from the bodega. I couldn't help it. I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was. So I've decided to try something....I'm going to allow myself 1 cigarette in the mornings. I will buy 1 cigarette every night for the next morning for a while until I can take control of this thing. Hey who knows if i can pull this off I don't mind smoking 1 cigarette a day it's a long way from half a pack or more every single day. I won't buy a pack because I'm not strong enough to have cigarettes lying around the house. Out of sight out of mind. I feel like a big jerk, I'm just making an excuse to not completely let go. Maybe one morning I'll wake up and not have the urge who knows? I've never tried it this way before but I do know this, that I will not buy a pack and relapse! The moment I see myself urgng to have one during the day is the day that I stop completely again! I will not go back to that, I refuse. I will not expose my son to that anymore. I am writing this for reference so that I can come back here when I feel like I might slip up.  I have a plan and I don't know if it's going to work but it's an experiment that I'm going to try.

[Breakinchains]

   Hi,

  It is  your quit, you can do it however  you  feel comfortable.  We are here as a community to support your efforts to stop. But I would suggest to you that having  one cigarette actually makes the craving worse than having none  at all. If you think about it, that  one  cigarette is only going to make you want another.....and another.......and another. One is never enough. Well, just something to consider. Congrats on  your attempt to quit. We are here if you need us.

[ebbrewer84]

I have been free from smoking for 3 weeks now.  Around the one week mark, in the past I would do the same thing.  Buy 2 cigs and smoke one in the morning and then one at night.  Then after doing this for a week or so, I would say, ok this is gettingexpensive and I could save some money by just buying a pack and rationing 2 a day myself.  Well you know that becomes a trap.  I read this book called Quit Smoking the Easyway by Allen Carr.  He explains that smoking less cigs makes it harder to quit and here is why.  When you smoke one or two cigs, each cig becomes more precious.  You think about that cig and can't wait to get home and smoke it.  what I learned is that we only crave nicotine when we don't have it, so having less makes our cravings so so much more.  Nicotine addiction is two fold it is brainwashing from everything around us and also the addiction to nicotine.  I really urge you to read this book.  It explains things so much better than I have.  So how do I feel?  I stopped smoking after about 30 pages into the book.  I didn't have a craving because I could identify what my body was doing.  I feel mentally more aware about alot of things. Our bodies do not crave nicotine, a poison....the little nicotine monster living in your brain does.  This will go away!  Willpower is not always sucessful because in your mind you feel like you have given something up.  The truth is you havn't given a thing up when you quit smoking.  We never enjoyed poisoning ourselves, but we did it anyway.  Watch other smokers smoke.  Loook how sad they look.  You will do this!!  The power is inside you!

[JonesCarpeDiem]

you are torturing yourself, plain and simple.

T

The nicotine receptors in your brain crave it and when you smoke your body releases dopamine.

[bird]

i don't want to judge what might work for you. but i can tell you that when i started smoking again--i kept it to three cigarettes a day for MONTHS. and then, at some point i realized i was buying a pack at least every other day. which is so weird, because i was only smoking three cigarettes a day, right?  yeahhhh. anyway, in a.a. we have a saying "one drink is too many 100 id not enough." again, i can only speak for myself---but i know that i feel the same way about cigarettes....even though i am craving SO BAD right now. but i also know that i am really thirsty and i am just going to drink water until this craving goes away. hmmm and maybe a diet coke 🙂 good luck and thanks for posting!

~B

[maynell]

Hey, New York,

In general, the  "one in the morning" approach is just a little trail cut by your addiction to keep the nicotine flowing in. In a few weeks or even days, it will become a wide path, then a street and then an interstate. I tried the "one a day" method some years ago. It didn't work. It just kept my receptors interested in more. Congratulations on your attempt. Hopefully, you will come to the conclusion that if you want to be an EX, you have to truly give up the smokes. 

May

[glyn]

"Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." - Thomas Edison-

keep trying, if this way does not work. try another. the most important thing is to keep trying. it is said sucess is as simple as getting up one more time than you fail.

hang in there

[azcat]

I wanted nicotine this morning too.  It has been five days free of nicotine today.  I keep telling myself "No nicotine today" !!  It is my mantra I say over and over again.  It helps me get through the urges. 

I wish you success in your recovery from nicotine.  You are  capable of success, you are strong enough to get through this!! 

We will be free of this addiction !!!

[molzep]

You can try it, but it makes it much harder.  Many, many of us have gone through that, and I doubt it stays that way for any.  We seem to go back to our old habits. One thing it will do though is teach you methods for putting off a craving, cause you'll have lots.  Go for it, and learn from it if it doesn't work out!

Good luck!

[smokerfor12years]

Thank you all for your support and faith in me. I really appreciate it and I will take all your comments and apply them however I can. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences I'm experimenting with the one cigarette a day thing I agree with molzep that I can learn the method of putting off a craving. Hey so far so good I had one this morning and haven't had anymore even though I am craving it but not as bad as in the mornings I can handle the days and nights even. Well wish me luck and again if I see that I'm slipping I will have to retreat to a non smoking relatives home to learn life without smoking again, lol, seriously?! : \