is it normal to feel super emotional after quitting? i’ve cried more in the past 2 days than the entirety of january. it’s also a big trigger for me, whenever i was stressed/ upset i would immediately reach for my vape.
We hid from our emotions when we used nicotine! The hit of dopamine helped us deal with most of the sad and difficult ones. Learning to feel and deal with the our emotions is part of the journey. The loss is magnified when we withdraw from the drug.
Be sure to add some brisk exercise, some funny videos, a bit of chocolate, even dancing, to your day to get healthy doses of the dopamine you are missing from quitting.
It IS going to get easier. Hang in there until it does.
@valenw crying is good for the soul. Crying also releases a lot of pressure, stress sadness, loss or whatever you want to call it. Yep crying is normal when quitting. I just let it flow myself
@valenw Just agreeing with you. My eyes watered all the time. I felt all the feels, it was strange, but I believe it was a part of the healing process. You are not a mental case. (((Hugs)))
What you are feeling is normal. Nicotine in cigarettes is an addictive substance, so when individuals are at the beginning stages of their quit, they can typically experience withdrawal symptoms than can cause depression. Hang in there @valenw. If your symptoms gets worse, please reach out to a medical profession for support.
I went through this when I went from smoking nearly a pack a day to quitting cold turkey. Not only are you going through withdrawal from nicotine, but you are also grieving the loss of the crutch that you have been used to turning to distract you from unpleasant emotions. I recommend hot baths & exercise & asking for hugs and/or placing your hand over your heart and taking deep breaths (this is like giving yourself a hug). You may also want to consider using nicotine replacement if you are not already. Treat yourself gently. It will pass.
I’m just chiming in to say I, too, have had to relearn how to cope with all kinds of emotions rather than smoke. Working through and actually FEELING emotions that I would have denied and buried with a smoke before. It will pass! Hang in there! 🌞
Just wanted to chime in @valenw that I too have been highly emotional/reactive/tears, so far from being rational! This has been going on for about 3 weeks (60 days today) it's getting old to watch this ramping up...saying to myself "really you're going to react that way" When I was messaging just now I started to reflect on, what is the hardest part of quitting. What's coming up is to experience EVERYTHING new, every moment of my life is brand new without cigarettes. Then I started to be grateful for this experience of everything new, when have we ever had a chance to see our surroundings, as adults, brand new. We are so acutely aware right now it's all so sharp & I'm so prickly so I'm keeping my distance from people, no really I am it's safer for them. It's this heightened awareness that has caught my attention this morning.....think I will go explore some more
Be well you all, so grateful for this platform and all of you to share this journey
That gets better @Cbefree. I promise! Things will level out and it all becomes more manageable. It took me a while. I am an emotional person under normal circumstances so quitting had me feeling raw like you described for a few months. It’s still worth it though to get through it and get that monkey off your back. And now I would say I’m more rational, calmer, more appropriately emotional than ever before. Vent when you need to but stay on track. Time WILL heal you and it’s going to be great.
When you quit smoking, your emotions can be ups and downs as your body get use to being without nicotine. What you are experiencing is apart of your recovery @Cbefree. Hang in there! Things will get better soon.
Quiana, EX Team
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