Oof! It's week 3, alright.

[nsd_user663_39012]

Wow, I am SO GLAD these forums exist, so that I KNEW IN ADVANCE to look out for week 3! There I sat, happy and smug at the end of week 2, feeling only mild & occasional cravings, with most of the emotional blah and rage behind me or so it seemed, secure in my identity as a non-smoker, all proud of myself for being out at bars without smoking and then-

Gah. OMG. Week 3!

So. Cravings. These cravings don't feel anything like the intense, all-day, full-body, thinking-about-smoking-all-the-time cravings of week one. What they feel like is the mild, sneaky cravings from when I was smoking but couldn't have a cigarette for a day or so for some reason. This is a tremendous mind-game, because I feel all the time like "Oh, I must not have had a cigarette all day cos I was so busy, I'll just pop outside and have one now". Whereas the stronger cravings in week one were very definitely QUIT CRAVINGS and so an obvious enemy to fight, these cravings are sneaky and subtle and crawl into my brain as though I'd never quit at all.

Bah, fie on nicotine mind-games! It is at this point that I am INCREDIBLY GLAD that I threw out all of my smoking supplies. I would never have lit one up in the first week or two of quitting even if they'd been around, but in this state I'm scared that in some distracted moment I'd be rolling before I knew it.

So, I have treated the past two days like it is days 1-3 all over again, and double-stocked-up on snacks and sweets and cups of hot tea, and am happily soon flying off to Sweden where NOBODY smokes so triggers & temptation should be substantially reduced. Plus there is the (very big bonus) of getting to kiss my sweetheart without smoker-breath for the first time in just two days. So I'm sticking with it, but ouch, this week is hard!

[nsd_user663_38422]

Ha, i thought it was lies too about the "week 3" thing...

Today, yesterday and the day before iv had "twinges" for a smoke, as if id not even been without them for 3 weeks.

Tonight has deffo been the hardest, i got up after eating tea and just had the hugest urge to light up, i even had the footsteps tracked out to my old supply draw, diverted at the last minet an ended up at the sink.

And the moods, ooooooh :mad: its just like being on day friggin 3 again.

[nsd_user663_39012]

On the other hand, by now I can really feel the physical benefits of not smoking, so the tip to "take big, deep breaths" really reminds me what I've gained already! So this week hasn't been all bad, just a bit of a surprise, those new kinds of post-quit cravings.

And now I've got 12 days off my yucky stressful job, hooray, hooray!

Hope everyone else is enjoying themselves at least a little bit in the holiday period...