RissaRoo,
This is TOTALLY normal! Most of us started smoking when we were children or teens and our "coping strategy" with dealing with ANY situation, be it stressful, joyous, chaotic, social... with a cigarette. Now that we don't smoke, we have to learn other ways to deal with our emotions... especially anger. As smokers, when a stressful situation would arise, we typically would go outside (getting away from the situation), b**** to other smokers (talk it out) and breathe in the smoke (take deep breaths repeatedly). All three of these things CAN be healthy without having to smoke to do it. You can STILL walk away from the situation for a while to calm down, talk to people about it and take deep breaths... just don't smoke.
My suggestion is to come up with a list of things that you will do when you start to feel yourself getting angry. Some examples might be grab a piece of gum and chew on it, take a walk, call a friend, take deep breaths, etc... I suggest that you come up with between 5-10 things to do and start trying them out. If one doesn't work, scratch it off the list and try another one. By the time you've tried all of them (if they are all unsuccussful) then you've probably spent enough time trying doing this that you've had a chance to calm down, simply because you've taken the time to do this. It IS possible to deal with your stress in healthy ways other than smoking, but you just have to find out what works for you. Good luck!
Crave the Quit!
Pam
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/28/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 136
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,423
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $448.8
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 31 [B]Seconds:[/B] 23
