My last and first relapse started when I got out of bed that morning and my brain and body were saying "The Heck with this! Why are you doing this to yourself when you don't have to?" I caved so fast it wasn't funny, I did reach out and argued with my roommate about having a cigarette for a half hour via text message I told him: "F" It I was going to smoke; he gave in to me way to easily and said fine I can't stop you smoke your life away. right now I have almost a full carton of Smokers Choice cigarettes sitting in my filing cabinet and know that I could have one anytime I wanted and I don't want it. My relapse lasted 12 days and now I am back to not smoking but I am not going cold turkey this time. The Point of this is what happens if I come across this trigger again? This is an out of the blue trigger and I think it is also part of my original depression. I have to be careful here when I sleep a lot that tells me depression is lurking around the corner and I am already taking enough meds for that!
First, you can make quitting hard or make it easy. By keeping Sickerettes around you are planning to fail already.
Also, what I did was to pledge - good days or bad days - even before I got out of bed -
"I, Thomas, pledge that I will not smoke this day under any circumstances whatsoever.
I respect myself enough to honor this decision no matter what!"
N.O.P.E.! Not One Puff Ever!
If ever sounds like a very long time then realize that ever is made up of a series of nows!
Throughout each day I reminded myself of my decision and my pledge to myself. Sometimes I had to remind myself very, very often! But at the end of that day I acknowledged to myself that indeed, I have another Day WON rather than another Day One!
Some tips and tricks - brush your teeth right away. Take a shower and breathe deeply while you're at it. Throw on some clothes and walk around the block, if you physically can. Keep your reasons why you want to quit handy at all times. Choose a flavored gum or mint that you associate with staying quit - mine was clove gum - and when you want to reinforce your quit pop one.
Get on the computer and read the blogs first!
Drink your coffee with your other hand or if that's still too much, switch to green or white tea.
There's a gazillion ways you can make your decision easier to do and your relapse more unlikely. Work in both directions.