Been thinking about smoking with more regularity recently. I’m not sure where it has come from…passed the 1 year milestone a couple weeks ago but over the past week I have found myself remembering smoking with fondness, specifically the thought of going to a pub and smoking while having a pint. I never crave it anywhere else – work, during the days, even drinking at home. But I recently seem to always come back to wanting to smoke in the pub! I can’t quite shake that memory or adjust the relationship to that particular situation. In my mind it remains something I enjoyed and something I am depriving myself of now. I try and remember all the crap smokes in the pub, but it’s hard not to remember (imagine) how good I thought it was…
The plus side is I have gone long enough now that I don’t feel like ill relapse and the thoughts go pretty quickly but DAMN…hard to shake it!
Written by
Kissingbodia
2 Years Smoke Free
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Hey Kissingbodia - great honest and heartfelt post that I can totally relate to as I head into 17 months quit - what you are experiencing post 1 year is quite normal and is the classic 1 year complacency trap! We have done so well and done a year, one for old times sake won't matter, we are strong enough it nip it in the butt (no pun intended ) and be in control but unfortunately as seen from numerous members here, that is very dangerous.
I too at least once a week since I turned the 1 year mark have that longing for a smoke and the thought of never smoking again and the enjoyment I thought I once had from smoking, they come very randomly - a couple of nights ago from just looking at a warm cosy fire in my sitting room and how a smoke would be lovely but I just keep going back to that night that I put out my last cigarette and how terrified I was that I was going to die if I didn't quit and the first 3 months of the re-wiring, I never want to go back there and know that you never can have 'just the one' - stay strong and doing what you are doing - we are ex-smokers now for good
I can completely relate to what you're saying, although it isn't the pub that bothers me, it's AFTER the pub for me. I used to love getting home and standing in the back garden smoking, around midnight, when all was quiet. The weather didn't even bother me, in fact the more adverse the weather the better the experience. It was -2°C, with a hard frost last night but I still got the urge to go outside for a smoke before I went to bed. I've just come to accept it now. The cigarette would taste horrible anyway.
Do your friends still smoke when you're at the pub? If so, what do you do when they go outside for a cigarette; do you go with them (not to smoke obviously, just to chat) or stay indoors?
No, very few of my friends smoke now. However, even the ones that do, its not when they go out I want to smoke... In fact, when I'm at the pub with other people I don't think about it at all! Its the thought of being in the pub (or pub garden) on my own, drinking and smoking. Sounds similar to your craving! RoisinO1 thanks for sharing your experience...sounds like its pretty normal to start feeling this after a year or so...
PS Just a note to all who are new to the quit, don't read this an be disheartened! 99.9% of the time I don't think about smoking now, so keep at it, it does and will get easier. Just very occasional craves remain, if only for a few seconds!
Well pointed out Kissingbodia, it is just a nostalgic craving that is very brief but needs to be mentioned as has been a complacency relapse for a few here - more recently a member that had quit for 20 years - need to have that guard up at all times
It is very similar to mine! We must have both liked the solitude cigs the best 😀
I must just emphasise what Kissingbodia and RoisinO1 have said. These are just nostalgic thoughts, nothing like the full-on cravings that we had at the start. Don't be downhearted and think it will never get better! It gets MUCH easier.
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