I was on NRT also. and really NML is the space where you have people telling you you should be over it and you feel you just can't shake the thought of smoking. This is the point where I've seen people slip because they think, hmmm, it's been 130 days I should be over this already. Think outside of the box with me for a moment. For years we used smoking as our friend, our confidant, our comforter. It's the first thing we reached for when an emotion popped up and we didn't know how to handle it. Years back when we first started, we started because of peer pressure or a boost to our confidence. Slowly we began developing emotional ties to smoking. It helps us relax, it made us feel better, it made us concentrate, the list goes on. Be built years and years of memories and kept pumping more and more nicotine into our bloodstreams. We have the habit of hand to mouth with the motions of smoking and we have the physical and later emotional dependence on smoking. I know when I had an overwhelming urge to smoke, I always stopped myself and said, what would a nonsmoker do in this situation, someone who has never smoked in their life? We each individually deal with life stressors differently because we are all unique from one another. That's what makes quitting difficult, we all have our own plan tailored to each of our lives. No one quits the same or has an exact timeline. Thoughts of smoking will always pop up from time to time. But with time the urges become less, the thoughts drift away because you're moving through life replacing those memories. The brain is readjusting itself from being fed dopamine and there's a chemical process going on. give it the time it needs. In my case it took around 190 or so days to finally level off and a year to really get back into the swing of thing. but remember during that year, I was replacing memories of certain annual events going on, cookouts, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays. Don't sweat the labels and the acronyms. Just allow yourself the time to heal......
thanks for that suggestion. crazymama_Lori
