Brief New Year's Post.: If you’ve ended up... - No Smoking Day

No Smoking Day

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Brief New Year's Post.

austinlegro profile image
austinlegro11 Years Smoke Free
9 Replies

If you’ve ended up here because it’s New Year and you think you’ve made a (possibly) rash decision on New Year’s Eve just read a few lines…

The trick to quitting tobacco is to understand why we use tobacco. Trying to quit smoking if you still want to smoke can be a challenging task. Learn WHY you smoke and it makes stopping easier.

Smokers smoke because of cravings or triggers, but cravings are nothing to do with nicotine or any other part of the smoke. They are NOT withdrawal symptoms.

A craving is simply a mental prompt to repeat habitual behaviour, triggered by the brain, but experienced as a physical, compulsive urge that seems to the smoker like a real bodily need. The craving disappears long before the cigarette is smoked.

1. Nicotine withdrawal.

It'll be gone from your system over a couple of days and you'll feel like you're coming down with a cold. If you want to avoid those minor feelings at a time when you're dealing with the mental side then take some NRT and withdraw over whatever timescale you're comfortable with. Cravings are not withdrawal symptoms. Don't confuse the two. If you subscribe to NRT you will still want to smoke regardless of what the TV, nurse or NHS tell you.

2. Stopping Smoking (physical)

Not inhaling smoke increases the oxygen levels in your blood making you feel odd, intoxicated and spaced out. Many report insomnia and weird dreams. Taking NRT, particularly 24hr stuff can intensify this. The resulting repair of your body throws up all manner of things like ulcers, acne, lethargy and so on.

3. Stopping Smoking (mental) This is your actual quit.

Every time a smoking opportunity arrives your subconscious will prompt you to smoke. It doesn't make the blindest bit of difference whether you're sucking on an inhalator or whether you've sprayed something under your tongue. You will be prompted continually until you decide to light up. You don't even have to smoke, just lighting up will kill the prompt. The prompt isn't a need for nicotine, it's purely a need to smoke.

If you can out-stare a mental prompt that manifests itself as a physical need you're laughing and each little battle gives you better ammunition for the next one.

The craves come thick and fast in the early days but slow down due to the prompts being less regular. For example you get the morning prompt every morning whereas the lying on a beach in the sun prompt is a little less frequent!

If you didn’t know why holiday season was the cause of so many relapses well now you do.

Never forget that it was YOU who forced your subconscious to allow your lungs to admit smoke into them when the natural reaction is dramatically the opposite and it is YOU who has to put a stop to it.

Written by
austinlegro profile image
austinlegro
11 Years Smoke Free
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9 Replies
Atta1 profile image
Atta13 Months Smoke FreeValued Contributor

Very informative, thank you x

Tracey3 profile image
Tracey31 Year Smoke Free

What a powerful post! And most interesting

Thankyou

Exsmo profile image
Exsmo

It was Me who forced my subconscious to allow smoke into my lungs!

Man this is just what i needed. Been craving 2 days after being so proud of 3months quit & befinning to feel like a failure for craving after all this time. Weird how This helped. Funny i was trying to work out my brain while all along it was my action that changed my brain.

RoisinO1 profile image
RoisinO1Administrator3 Years Smoke Free in reply toExsmo

Don't forget you are at the 'Icky Threes' stage too Exsmo

Exsmo profile image
Exsmo in reply toRoisinO1

O yes. Am reading and rereading Roison. library now so i can print it off instead of using up limited data on mobile. I think i forgt password! Is always on on phone. Eek!

RoisinO1 profile image
RoisinO1Administrator3 Years Smoke Free

Great to hear your words of wisdom austinlegro - thanks for sharing, every word is spot on....Happy New Year to you :)

Exsmo profile image
Exsmo

Roison if youre on here where do i find that icky 3s post? am almost out of time at library and cant find it. No home internet.

RoisinO1 profile image
RoisinO1Administrator3 Years Smoke Free in reply toExsmo

Sorry only seeing this now Exsmo - here is the link again (it is under the Pinned Posts)

healthunlocked.com/nosmokin...

Amc86 profile image
Amc861 Year Smoke Free

I agree half the time I smoked I didn't even enjoy it xx

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