Just had a thought...

Back when I was a smoker, oh, say ten or more days ago, I used cigarettes as a little reward every now and then. You know, do this task, and you can relax with a cigarette. Finish the dishes? Cigarette. Clean the patio/garage? Cigarette.

Etc. etc. etc.

Well, during this quit I've actually had this (really stupid) thought: "You get yourself through Day 4, or Day 8, or whatever, and (d'oh!) you can reward yourself with a cigarette!

Followed by this thought: As long as I stay quit, I can NEVER reward myself with a cigarette again. Not for doing the dishes, or cleaning the garage, or even, and most especially, not for quitting smoking. I can't reward quitting by smoking.

Maybe that's obvious to all of you, but to me, it was a bit of a revelation!

[nsd_user663_10532]

It's amazing the tricks our minds play on us. I still look for my ciggies before I go out:eek:.

[nsd_user663_6426]

I found that kind of thinking drove me bananas..."I'll just hoover and polish the living room and have a fag"......arggghhhhh. Seriously it just felt like someone had pissed on my bag of chips everytime it happened. So glad I've finally broken that reward associaton. It will slowly disappear, you just have to give it time I'm afraid. Just think "doh" everytime it happens and reward yourself with something else e.g. timeout listening to music, reading a book, playing a video game, eating some chocolate. Anyhow...it does eventually go away.

Keep on trucking.

Lisa xx

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I remember the days back when ... lol

.. everything was punctuated by a cigarette. so, what can we punctuate our lives with now that doesn't involve chocolate? (other than a visit to this fantastic forum?)