If you’re a smoker, you know the drill. Finish a meal and you suddenly feel a powerful craving for a cigarette. Get up from your desk to take a break, and all at once you want to light up. Certain times of the day, places, and even some foods can spark a strong urge to smoke.
Experts call these triggers. And there can be a lot of them. They can happen when you:
Absolutely avoid triggers that can be avoided, or when they can be avoided. Some cannot be avoided, and learning to cope with them is key.
But just as you should never hang out at a bar if you’ve quit drinking, there are some things you absolutely avoid if you’ve quit smoking, especially at first. Before I quit for good, I found that when I would be around smokers in a group, like at a restaurant, I would eventually bum one off someone, especially if I had had a rough day. I had to change some of my social activities, meeting with those people in situations where they didn’t all light up. I didn’t have the same issue meeting one-on-one, or in a place where people weren’t smoking. I also started driving myself rather than catching rides with others, because if I felt a trigger or craving, I could leave on my own rather than being at the mercy of someone else.
Avoiding temptation is much better and easier than resisting temptation. Only on the rarest occasions can someone attempting to quit a habit be in a situation where they could be tempted before they’ll give in to the temptation, usually with the words, “Just this once.”
Seek out alternatives ??? it’s almost like telling people to start smoking Cigarettes again.
Just for the record, I’m still not smoking and doing very well with it to
don’t use a vape either
I read the entire article from the FDA and that just stuck out like a sore thumb thinking the same as you. I didn’t want to ask but thanks for sharing. Soooo proud of you
Excellent well done tip my hat to you when I stopped I ballooned from 11st to just over 18 st in 3 months its taken me nearly 3 years to lose it lol well done
how I quit over 5 years ago… was there was a smoke shop in my town that cut whole tobacco leaves and add their own pipe tobacco flavors. and sold tobacco pipes… yes there was nicotine, but no other chemicals that keep you addicted. for about 2 or 3 mo… I. smoked a lot, but then i started to cut back a lot . then after another 3 mo. i ran out and never went back to buy any more. been 5 years now…
one good thing about good pipe Tabacco, is when you relight it still Tast good and you don’t fell. like you need to finish it like a cigarette. O and it don’t stink. so bad.
I wish you success!! Some people use Chantix to quit, some use the gum, lozenges,etc. If one thing doesn’t work, try another. Some people use tootsie roll pops( I dont know how your dentist would feel about that-lol). What works for some, doesn’t work for others. You have a great, positive attitude and that certainly is an advantage. Kudos and hugs!
It was hard Vicki, still is hard at times, once in a while I’ll slip up and have just one, last one I had was about 2 weeks ago, I do suck on hard candy, the main thing I do that really really helps is, believe it or not, I walk around while cleaning my house or what ever I’m doing with a un lit Cig in my mouth and that really does work for me.
Thanks for the support
