yikes!!! Junkie thinking / romancing

[boutinmomma]

today is day 84, but ever since that wonderful thanksgiving dinner at my parents (everyone there was smoking - about 10 out of 15 people) I have been doing nothing but thinking of having that "just one" which I know is not possible.  I keep telling myself I don't do that anymore, and it's just the Junkie in me talking I just can't shake it.    N.O.P.E  I will never do those first 2 weeks again. 

[laurenmills]

Great job for holding strong even with everyone smoking around you.  I can't imagine how difficult that was.  Stay strong (:

[Ex_Nancy]

ugh....I can't stand to watch smokers kill themselves. You're still new in your quit and when we're around smokers, their toxic 2nd hand smoke WILL wake up your receptors. Even just watching all those people in your family smoke had to be upsetting....read 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!

[boutinmomma]

thanks Nancy, I knew Thanksgivings was going to be hard.  I tried to avoid them as much as I could.  My husband still smokes but not around me.  I did great being around them it was after that was hard.

[johio]

The Junkie speaks to me too....I know I'm one cigarette away from 1000....Hang in there

Joe

[ninepatch]

You did great making it thru Thanksgiving.  In order to kick those thoughts to the curb, you need to accept that you will have these thoughts.  Then you need to reinforce your commitment to your quit.  Remember all the reasons that brought you to this day.....your 84 days...wow!  Remember how sick you were of smoking, how nasty this habit is and the addiction that goes with it.  Remember that you want to breathe, you want to live and you want to smell great.   Remember all those things then laugh at the idea that a little old cigarette could get you that worked up.  Sometime a good laugh really helps!  You are doing to great!!!  YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!

[Ex_Nancy]

I have a friend that quit over a year ago. EVERY single day, her mother,father and aunt would sit around the kitchen table for hours on end with their packs of sickorettes and ashtrays. They also had COPD and were on disability because of it... my friend got SO grossed-out from looking at them that she quit.  😕

[JonesCarpeDiem]

I have been doing nothing but thinking of having that "just one"

you know this is not good. change your mind.

hunt down something you can't find anywhere else online and order it

find a recipe you've always wanted to try.

distract/divert

[sundance]

YIKES!

THAT WAS A BRAVE THING TO DO.

I'M LUCKY BECAUSE NO ONE IN MY FAMILY SMOKES AND I AM WASHING

ALL MY BLANKETS AND STUFF BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THEM TO SMELL.

JUST SEEING PEOPLE SMOKING MAKES ME WANT ONE.

TRY KEEPING YOURSELF SAFE.

[boutinmomma]

thanks Everyone.....

[froguelady]

Just remember there is no such thing as one cigarette.  You are doing good protecting your quit through a difficult time (Thanksgiving) around so many smokers.