I get an urge to eat ice cream and I don't. I have the urge to mouth off at obnoxious drivers and I don't. I have a crave to smoke a cigarette and I don't. I don't know anything else that I crave in my life at this moment. [b]I feel abnormal here cause a crave, should not, (in SSC parlance be called a crave because of the time frame, or where I am in my quit). Here at the SSC, that overwhelming desire to smoke must be delineated and described as a smoking thought and needs to be reprogrammed. Only here at the SSC. When I speak in a group or when I talk to others directly I get to call the crave, a crave, and why not here?[/b] Crave: [quote] 1. To have an intense desire for. 2. To need urgently; require. 3. To beg earnestly for; implore. [/quote] Well I do get that intense desire and it is usually intermittent through the day, all day every day. That sense of urgently requiring I get sometimes , occasionally not often and I get into water because I can not smoke with any success in water. I have not begged for anything for with any kind of earnestness in years. Now what I call a crave at this point in my quit and what I called the intense and unyeilding desire to smoke at day 30 and 60 and yes day 100 were different. NOW I TRUST MYSELF MORE AND I KNOW THAT I WILL GET THROUGH. THAT WHAT HAS WORKED TO KEEP ME QUIT IN THE PAST WILL MOST LIKELY WORK AGAIN AND I KNOW THAT TO BE AN EX-SMOKER I SIMPLY DON'T LIGHT THE NEXT CIGARETTE. I look forward to the future because what all the really seasoned quitterS HERE say is that this: crave, urge, forbidden desire will change. I trust what each long term ex-smoker here has said, (mostly because what they said when I was at day 10 came true). This change might not have been in their time-frame and it came true in mine. So I look forward to the future and what the feeling of freedom will be like. Somewhere here Golkerman or Shevie, and others have said to be patient, Cybrduke said this as well. It took me 36 years to develop my addiction, and the time I spent before was in a very small home with two parents that smoked. Altogether 49 years, my entire life, to develop my addiction as a smoker, stepping out of the addiction and into a new life will not happen over night. And it this new life

Rob 47 Thanks for being here. For me the whole thing is about truth. Each quit is different and each person is different. There is no particular way to do this except DON'T LIGHT THE NEXT SMOKE! Thanks every body for responding. Cheers. I know I can be craving and I am going to Venice baby I am not caving. Phillip [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/17/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 176 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,539 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1320 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 28 [B]Hrs:[/B] 20 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 45

Rob/Bob doesn't sit down. He runs with scissors :8o: :p I've been gone, so I am completely out of the loop. The last I knew we had agreed to call it 'a thing'?? *grin* [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 8/20/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 358 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 7,879 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1790 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 33 [B]Hrs:[/B] 23 [B]Mins:[/B] 44 [B]Seconds:[/B] 11

Rob, sit down. You sitting? No? Then sit!!!! I won't be responsible for injuries sustained when you faint. You are absolutely right. **....waiting a few minutes....** Oh, good! I was starting to worry. Welcome back. :p OK, I'll be serious now. :blush: Look at my meter. A few weeks ago I got hit with a wicked crave. Not a memory trigger, not a smoking thought, none of those fancy new "let's not admit the truth" things. This was a crave. I wanted a cigarette. I wanted other things, too, to combat the crave like nuts. No nuts in the house (excluding your's truly). Thought about going to the store. Nope. For the first time in my quit, I honestly did not trust myself in a convenience store; not where they sold cigs. I was even thinking that if I only took $3 I could get nuts but no cigs; wouldn't have enough for cigs if I skipped the nuts. That's how bad this [u]crave[/u] was. My boss got hit with a crave after being quit for 11 years. One day, out of the blue, WHAP!! He was blindsided. He got over it. That was, I think, about 9 years ago. Nothing since. If it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it's a duck. Call it any other name, it's still duck. Phillip, for the last 6 months, or so, the only "issue" I've had is a nagging feeling that a cig would be good when the pollution level goes up. This is a pollution allergy that my stupid brain is convinced will be alleviated by smoking. This problem, I think, is probably unique to me. At least I haven't heard anyone else describe it. Other than that and the one night I just described, I don't even think of cigs. I think the more you fill your head with other concerns and issues, the less room and time there is for thinking of smoking. The less you think of smoking, the sooner you'll make the transistion from quitter to non-smoker. Keep up the good quit, Phillip. Shevie [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 447 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 8,942 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1698.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 83 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 29 [B]Seconds:[/B] 26

OK, N2k. You're right. Let me rephrase. If it looks like a thing and it moves like a thing and it sounds like a thing, then it's a thing. Call it any other name, it's still thing. It was the scissors I was worried he'd faint onto. :gasp: ;) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 5/23/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 447 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 8,943 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1698.6 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 83 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 37 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5

River, Thanks for your insight! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and supporting others as well. The crave is a nasty thing and word! You have every right to call it what you wish :) It is the determination and knowledge that gets us through. Experiences are something to learn from and by sharing we can take what is needed and keep it close. Keep Strong, Josie _____________________ The SSC Support Team.