Stress

[AnnaS1959]

I quit on October 4th.  I've recently had some stress that triggered me to smoke a few times. I have not smoked since Friday. How do other people deal with stress and not smoking? I have some coping skills but big stressors seem to trump my coping skills. 

[CommunityAdmin]

Hi @AnnaS1959, first off congratulations on a month of not smoking, that's major! There's some curriculum on the site that addresses managing stress and triggers that I think could be helpful: 

Managing Stress
Preventing a Relapse
Beat Your Tobacco Triggers

Hope this helps!

- Danielle, EX Team

[maryfreecig]

Welcome to Ex! One way to handle stress is to not wait until it happens. Stick with Ex, check in regularly, read and take to heart anything that makes sense to you. One day at a time you will get stronger in living your life as a former smoker. You've worked hard to make your quit work, keep at it.

[Barbscloud]

@AnnaS1959 Welcome to the Ex and congrats on your success.  Reintroducing nicotine keeps you starting over again.  Glad to hear you haven't smoked since Friday.  Keep up the good work.

Stress is a trigger for most smokers.  The important thing it to be prepared. Did you create a quit plan?  That includes the tools you'll use and creating new associations to replace smoking.

https://www.becomeanex.org/guides/?cid=footer_community_linktobex

Remind yourself that "I don't do that anymore".  Keeping busy really helps.  Exercise is a great way to replace the dopamine lost when quitting.   Walking is great!

Deep breathing exercises are also a great to relieve stress.

Stay close to the ex and reach out before you smoke, not after.  It really helps.

Join us on the Daily Pledge to stay on track one day at a time.

Barb

[McMoney]

I can relate because I've given up previous quits when I let a bad day or a big fight overcome me. You really have to decide to face the stress head on, breathe through it, recognize your coping skills are lacking, and find new ways to handle it and self soothe rather than smoke the problem away or smoke to escape from it.  All of the tips linked above and the suggestions are good ones. Like Barb said, reach out BEFORE you smoke, not after. You can do this. I believe you can. You have to choose to deal with your problems a different way no matter what. Smoking does not make any problem better. It delays the problem, buries it temporarily, and robs you of health time money and potentially your life in the process. Don't allow that to happen anymore. Take a stand; gather your armor, tools, tips, and tricks and be vigilant. Stress will always be there, bad days will happen, you can handle all of it without smoking. You are stronger than you think!

[ReallyReal]

Hi @AnnaS1959 how are you doing?  I would just say as others have, nicotine doesn't actually solve the stressful issue, it just does damage to you.  I have been blessed in that I am in a situation where if I am in a stressful situation due to an interaction with another person, I feel free to remove myself from the situation--I just step away for awhile until, through deep breathing or grounding exercises, I am a little calmer, more clear thinking, and can be more focused on finding a solution rather than having an immediate negative reaction.  There have been some stressful things that I had to remove myself only mentally from, just for enough space of time to calm myself--financial stressor are a big one for me.  But I have to do the self talk, telling myself that absolutely nothing is worth going back to smoking for and that smoking is not an actual solution to stressful things, it just lets me avoid the problem for a little bit and the problem doesn't go away by smoking.  I still have to face it.  Remember the reasons you quit nicotine.  Remember how hard one those first days of freedom were.  I never want to have to go through those first days of quitting again, and that is what happens if you use nicotine again.  I hope you are still free from the nicodemon--let us know how you are doing.