Dead time

[nsd_user663_2621]

One of my big problems is that i hate dead time.

You know the five minutes before your train comes in, or the 10 minutes you are sat with your coat on waiting for your wife to finish her make up or the 5 minute walk to the station after work. Or the the little bit of time after you finish something at work and are not quite ready to start something new. Or half time in the football. Or the adverts in your favourite programme. Or waiting outside the shop while your wife chooses yet another pair of shoes.

All of these times are wasted unless you are smoking right?

Wrong!

I hate dead time and always filled it with a fag or two. Now what?

[nsd_user663_2026]

Read a mag, do a crossword (if you like them) people watch that can be very amusing at times.

[nsd_user663_1704]

Get a 'pausable' type freeview box and watch everything 20 mins later so you can forward the ads

10 mins is time to do loads! tidy a room, make a cuppa check or make a to do list.

Think nice thoughts :rolleyes: or just relax! why do we have to fill dead time? we can relax for 5-10 mins and recharge a little

Quitting smoking is an ideal time to take up a new hobby x x x x

[nsd_user663_2291]

Pop a polo in your mouth and a chewing gum.

[nsd_user663_2623]

i think the dead time is half of the reason I kept smoking. I feel just like you Paul C...but I'm sure we can make it through. I've been practicing some breathing excercizes and push ups....

[nsd_user663_2629]

Try standing next to someone who just had a ciggie (not while they are smokin coz that smells looovelly) that stale horrible smell was us just a few days ago !

[nsd_user663_2621]

i think the dead time is half of the reason I kept smoking. I feel just like you Paul C...but I'm sure we can make it through. I've been practicing some breathing excercizes and push ups....

thats a great idea - use the dead time for something that might actually do some good - push ups or similar. great shout

[nsd_user663_2635]

I'm right there with ya on 'dead time'. Smoking used to make these minutes during the day seem pleasurable. But it's only because it was an ideal time to feed a habit. Its like Alan Carr said, "as soon as you extinguish a cigarette you are then a non smoker".

The way I see it is that a cigararette only lasts 5mins or so, and if a wait for a train is 15, then you'd still have 10 minutes to kill which you would of got through no problem. If you didn't have the need to top up your nicotine levels during the first 5 and smoke, then these 5 minutes would be spent the same as the last 10, not smoking, just passing time.

[nsd_user663_2659]

One of my big problems is that i hate dead time.

You know the five minutes before your train comes in, or the 10 minutes you are sat with your coat on waiting for your wife to finish her make up or the 5 minute walk to the station after work. Or the the little bit of time after you finish something at work and are not quite ready to start something new. Or half time in the football. Or the adverts in your favourite programme. Or waiting outside the shop while your wife chooses yet another pair of shoes.

All of these times are wasted unless you are smoking right?

Wrong!

I hate dead time and always filled it with a fag or two. Now what?

Thats where iam at,i dont know what to do with myself.I really looked forward to my smoke or it was like a break fore me.

mrs terry

[nsd_user663_2162]

Omg yeah you've just reminded me about that need to light up during those typical dead time moments! I used to smoke from 30 to 40 cigarettes a day, and working full-time in a building where no one is allowed to smoke you can easily figure out just how much I used to smoke during those dead times exactly :eek:

The nice news is that now I have completely overcome that need, honestly, it just never even occurs to me anymore that in those same dead times situations I used to need to light up so badly! it only came to my mind reading this thread, so as obvious as it may sound I can only suggest to hang in there because hey time does heal everything

[nsd_user663_2485]

Dead Time

One of the hardest things for me was giving myself permission to rest during those "dead times." I had always assumed that I had to be constantly doing something--as a kid I probably fidgeted a lot.

I try to give myself permission to rest during the dead times. I think I am getting better at it.

Rob W

Quit: October 18, 2007

Method: Cold Turkey

Every now and then I get a craving, and it's a sharp-fanged, long-clawed, stinking monster that dances a jig on my brain, but it goes quickly.

[nsd_user663_1988]

I think I remember smoking more in deadtime than I usually would.

Anything where I was waiting for someone or something and especially if whatever/whoever was running late would just make me smoke more. If I was waiting for a train and it was running late, I'd light up a cigarette because I knew that it would turn up just as start smoking a cigarette.

[nsd_user663_1998]

I know this might not appeal to you Paul :eek: but Ive taken up knitting. I f***in love it! Ive just finished a scarf for me and just started on one for my daughter.

But do know what you mean about dead time, if you count up all the 5 mins its a hell of a lot of useable time for something else. I love lists too so a notebook, pen and my over active mind helped to use up the time at the beginning.

I really like the idea of using that time to rest though .... who says we have to be busy all the time?

[nsd_user663_2621]

I know this might not appeal to you Paul :eek: but Ive taken up knitting. I f***in love it! Ive just finished a scarf for me and just started on one for my daughter.

But do know what you mean about dead time, if you count up all the 5 mins its a hell of a lot of useable time for something else. I love lists too so a notebook, pen and my over active mind helped to use up the time at the beginning.

I really like the idea of using that time to rest though .... who says we have to be busy all the time?

ha ha ha your the second person to have mentioned knitting on this site - what is going on????:eek:

i think the thing about dead time is to not think of it as dead time at all - waiting for a train or sitting through some adverts is not dead time - its time to think or talk or read something.

Its like i used smoking for punctuation. Like a full stop or a comma between finishing one activity and starting the next. It might be something at work or changing trains on my daily commute or the little five minute walk from the tube stn to my office. I would fill all these little natural breaks with cigarettes. The good news I am thinking about it less and less now. The physical cravings have pretty much gone - the only times i really feel like one are when i see someone else smoking.