How do you avoid triggers?

[JuulU]

I’m on day four of quitting today and my cravings have been out of control 

[Barbscloud]

First of all congrats on your 4 days.   This is normal a part of your early withdrawal.  This is where you quit plan comes into play.  What tools do you identify to ride your craves?.  We're all different.  What helped me was walking (I would just walk out the door for a few blocks), Sour Patch candy, chewing on straws, and deep breathing.  And of course coming to the Ex and reading/posting.   This community saved my quit several times early in my quit.  So stay close and continue to reach out.

Barb

[Turnips]

Hi juulu! You are doing awesome by managing those craves for 4 days and then coming here for some advice/ support. It might be helpful to know what has already been working for you so far. Are you on any NRT (gum, lozenges, etc)? What are your triggers? 

I am only about 7 days ahead of you on this quit, but have managed some workarounds to my triggers. An example of how I have managed my coffee trigger has been by making my lunch for work in the morning, instead of the night before. It kind of keeps me busy so I can't do my smoking routine. I have sipped on the coffee while doing that, so I am associating it with something else instead of smoking. And interestingly, as I have begun to get my taste back, I have taken a liking to hot green tea over coffee. So over the last few days I have made my first cup in the morning hot green tea and then have some coffee afterward! I am trying to make it a challenge to prove that I am smarter than this addiction!

As the advice is here on this community...get your quit plan prepared and use those things that work as often as needed to avoid any slips that will make this journey even harder! 

[Maki]

Distract , delay , discuss , drink water , deep breaths , don't smoke 

Ask yourself if you are hungry , angry , lonely , tired . 

Cinnamon is a good crave buster . Oranges are as well . Frozen grapes , even a tad bit of salt on the tongue ( if you are not hypertensive ) can help . 

I agree walking is so helpful . 

Get a ping pong ball , bounce it against the wall ( if you have no ping pong table ) in time to your new fabulous music play list . I found distraction helped me best and music .

I did a lot of mall walking , window shopping . 

I stayed away from triggers like drinking , by not drinking . 

Stayed away from crowds of smokers , parties where lots would be smoking until I felt my quit was stronger . 

Congrats on choosing to quit smoking and good job posting , posting , blogging , journaling were also my go to. 

[JACKIE1-25-15]

Staying calm seemed to help my triggers not to escalate.  If something is causing a trigger it is better to step away from it.  Imagine being in a crowd of smokers.  That could really set you off.  Wouldn't it be better not to be in the environment. Breathing always worked for me. /blogs/Daniela-3-11-2016-blog/2018/03/09/deep-breathing?sr=search&searchId=bff0d0b8-e374-4ebb-9719-9... 

[green1611]

Congratulations !

Triggers.. be prepared for it.

If prepared, I mean anticipate, bit easy to overcome. no worries.

All the best !