Happy Saturday

[jbniceguy]

Good morning everyone. So i am going on my 5th day of not smoking. So far the week has not been to terrible. A few cravings here and there but nothing that I could not handle. I have been looking forward to the weekend being able to sit back and relax and enjoy life. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning and have had nothing but a steady craving that just does not want to go away. I have taken a shower, deep breathing, taken a walk, and yet it just continues to sit on my shoulder yapping at me. I am sure that it is all in my head and that because it is the first weekend of not smoking, i have some pretty harsh habits to break. Any suggestions of how to make them go away? Did this happen to many of you? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Enjoy your weekend!

[Thomas3.20.2010]

It happens to most if not all of us!

What do you enjoy passionately?

Is it movies that make you laugh? Playing a musical instrument? Creating a work of art? Reading a Mystery Novel? 

That's what helped me get through those times!

When you're engrossed in what you do, even as an active smoker, you forget to smoke!

Find an activity that will help you to forget your Addiction because you are enraptured in it.

And before you make a poor decision get back here pronto and listen to the advice you receive!

[Puff-TM-Draggin]

Yes.  This did happen to me.  Sitting back and relaxing this early in your quit is probably not the best thing to try and do.  I recommend you stay busy, busy, busy.  While you still have cravings when you are busy, it is much easier to dismiss them and refocus if you have a task at hand.  I think this is why weekends are more dangerous for those of us who work than weekdays.

I've found that if I just stay incredibly busy from the time I wake up until I'm so tired I drop, I either work through the cravings or sleep through them.  Either way, day Won!

[cpsono]

Good morning.  In my very early quit days, weekends and days off were my hardest, and to a certain extent those days are still harder for me than work days because I couldn't smoke all that much at work. You will have a series of "firsts" in your quit--first weekend, first holiday, first vacation, long drive, etc, etc.  I'll just tell you what they told me: the only way out is through.  You are doing the right things as far as craves are concerned, i.e. distractions and stay busy.  One of the things that helps me through my addictive thoughts is that I KNOW without a doubt that I don't want to smoke a cigarette because I KNOW that I would be back to full time smoking and I KNOW that I don't want to do that. You have to have the same commitment.   I don't want to be in your shoes at day 5, and you don't want to be at day 1 or in the negative days.  When I was where you are, I was in awe of people who had weeks or months of being smoke free.  And now, amazingly enough and thanks to the beautiful people on this site and to my hard work, I have a beautiful 136 DOF...still not easy sometimes but doable as sweet Canadian Marilyn says! You will be fine.  Just keep coming here and blogging.  Smoking will not cure your crave:it will only give you more craves!   Blessings to you, CP

[cpsono]

Oh yes and taking alot of naps helps also...You can't smoke if you're sleeping.  Naps are a wonderful thing!!!!!  CP

[JonesCarpeDiem]

Go buy one fresh lemon and when you are on the edge, bite into one, skin and all.

Stick your head in the freezer and count to 20 slowly while breathing the air.

Pack your mouth with ice cubes and let them melt while trying to not get brain freeze.

[YoungAtHeart]

In these early days, you need to stay busy, busy busy!  Idleness breeds smoking thoughts....so you need to work it!  This takes some effort in the early days, but it gets easier as time passes.  It is SO worth it - I promise.

Being busy can also be playing a computer game (I played Angry Birds nonstop for the first week or so!), or Solitaire, or do a jigsaw, or count the number of objects of a certain color where you are, or take a nap, or march in place, or lay on your back and envision what the clouds look like to you!

Keep moving forward!

Nancy

[Sootie]

As everyone above has said.....early days are tough and you need to stay extremely vigiliant about your quit. 

I too was surprised to find that I craved more during idle time than I did during stress. We all think we smoke because of "all the stress in our life". But I found that it was during breaks.......during downtime......that I craved the most.

Stay busy as everyone said (I felt like the energizer bunny during my early days!). 

Stay Strong.

[wendyinflorida]

Hello everyone, I am very new here - Just joined today.  My quit day is October 20th so 10 days away.  I am excited to be done with smoking.

Sorry if this is not the right forum but I have a question.  I am going to be using the patch to quit....Is this a good idea ? Should i just quit cold turkey so i can get the nicotine withdrawl over with?

Thanks for any advise you can give - I greatly Appreciate it.

Wendy in Florida.

[TerrieQuit]

Congratulations on 4 full days smoke free! The first few are hard. But the nicotine will or should be gone very soon! You are doing great! Stay close to this site, in my early days I almost lived here! Keep reading about how much harm smoking does to your body.It affects us from head to toe! and soon the thought of that will keep you going! Stay strong!

Terrie  96  DOF

[jbniceguy]

Thank you everyone for your comments, suggestions, and support. It is 5pm and i just woke up from a nap. I cleaned my car earlier today and bought an air freshener to hang. I cant beleive how many ashes and stuff were in my car. Also, the smell was starting to really be noticable. I almost feel like i have a new car now. I guess that is a little treat to reward myself for not smoking.