suzanne i am stuck right now in a very similar situation i am an ex now and i'm not currently smoking but i'm fighting that urge to smoke because i have the free time in my hands or that "breaks" or "waiting time" anyway you want to call it, i just wrote myself what do i do when these times come up?? i have had some real good advice from everyone but the hard part is that everybody works differently and some things that people have suggested to me seems like it might work for them but it did not work for me.
what i can say is all the advice you get here from people try it out. if you see that some techniques work better than others try to hold on to those that work best for you, while telling yourself that the others don't and push them aside.
for example everyone told me to take a couple deep breaths when i felt an urge. IT DID NOT WORK
try keeping your hands busy with something, worked a little but not enough at other critical times.
keeping yourself busy can help fight the urge at times because u get distracted with something else and sooner or later you forget that u had that urge, but what do u do when the only thing that's flying above your head is a cig??
at that point i told myself there's nothing right now that can make me not smoke with this type of mentality. shit hell could break loose right now and i will still smoke that cigarette.
What do you say about those 10 or 15 min breaks at work?...they have cig break written all over them. printed like a tattoo...
i think the only way to do this right (for me) was the urge to wanting to quit. you need to really be ready and just give it your all you have to hate it so bad i mean really be disgusted by the fact of even smoking. every time you'd slip just think ok maybe this time i'm not ready you have to prepare yourself know when you really need one and when your just smoking cuz, if you could cut down on the "just cuz" cigs it's a step anything you see that helps you, try new creative things. (i don't really know what u like to do or what you would do in specifically you and only you knows what u like to do and what makes you happy)
my best advice take this process of "quitting" or "becoming an ex" as a brand new job that you have absolutely no experience what so ever, you had the toughest manager in the world and you were scared shitless. but it was an open door to better opportunities and it is something you were always dreamed of becoming, since you were a kid.
1st step is the training process right?? your going to feel mixed emotions like if you were on a roller coaster, 2nd give it your all, try your best when your new at something think you can make mistakes you can slip or forget one step out of the 300. 3rd try to get as much help as you can during the training process, a co-worker that's been there like 20 yrs (like an ex smoker who quit 10 yrs ago) or a brand new co-worker (who just quit smoking) and can relate to you.
and for the grand finale, try to do the next big step and go all out on your own (smooth sailing ahead).
whatever ADD-ONS you want to put into these 3 steps it's all open for you.
SO HERE WE GO FOR THE RIDE!!!
