Get the Support You Need

Learn from thousands of users who have made their way through our courses. Need help getting started? Watch this short video.

today's top discussions:

logo

11 years and counting

Timbo637

2024-10-31 6:49 AM

Quit Smoking Community

logo

Feels like hell week all over!!

Timbo637

2024-10-30 9:38 AM

Quit Smoking Community

logo

Roller Coaster Withdrawal

Timbo637

2024-10-14 12:28 PM

Quit Smoking Community

logo

Smile....and don't shoot the messenger

Timbo637

2024-09-27 3:17 PM

Quit Smoking Community

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Most Loved

Browse through 411.768 posts in 47.066 threads.

161,302 Members

Please welcome our newest members: Geraldine, Snootz, Poul Ilsøe, Trina J Kriya, SG1501

The Faces of A Crave


15 years ago 0 3307 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Breather, that committee can really work over time it you let them.  Some of them are called pride, ego, self centerness, and on and on.  Sure others are there.  Sometimes it can be a real screaming match.  But I distract and move on.  I replace that chatter, when I am in charge, with a gratitude list and my list of why it is not worth that smoke.  I remember all the times I lost and I don't want that any longer.  I want the quit more than a smoke, today. 
 
Jan I think you one year reward should be a new love seat.  You have used that a lot   Soon we will be celebrating your victory.

Keep the Quit
Sparky


My Milage:

My Quit Date: 12/1/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 52
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 520
Amount Saved: $91.00
Life Gained:
Days: 7 Hrs: 12 Mins: 37 Seconds: 47

15 years ago 0 355 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Oh my Jan.  I just got this visual of you holding on to the loveseat cushion with both hands, all stiff, with sweat breaking out on your forehead while the donk, donk, donk of Law and Order plays in the background!
 
It made me giggle although I know it probably wasn't funny at all at the time!  Good job hanging tough girl!
Angie
 
 


My Milage:

My Quit Date: 12/30/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 23
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 276
Amount Saved: $121.44
Life Gained:
Days: 2 Hrs: 1 Mins: 19 Seconds: 36

15 years ago 0 763 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Good post, Sparky!  I remember REALLY craving in the beginning.  I can't tell you how much distractions helped me during some of the really challenging times.  To fight off that feeling of "just one puff" - that's all.  It would have so easy to fall for that line.  But I had had enough, and I knew where just one puff would lead.
It was then that I hung on to my love seat for dear life and watched CSI, Law and Order, etc.  Anything to take my mind off that subtle suggestion - "just one puff".
And with time the cravings ceased.  I still live a day at a time and NEVER underestimate the power of the nicodemon!  I am grateful to the Dear Lord for every smoke free day I have!
Keep those quits going strong!!!!!
 
Cheers,
Jan

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/27/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 360
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 9,000
Amount Saved: $2,970.00
Life Gained:
Days: 42 Hrs: 7 Mins: 49 Seconds: 8

15 years ago 0 816 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Sparky and I are " slogan buddies ". We both attach H.A.L.T. to our posts. If we get to hungry , angry , lonely , or tired we become vulnerable to the faces of a crave because any one of those four things will weaken us. I blew a quit about 20 years ago by allowing myself to get too tired. I came home tired from a night shift in the steel mill and for some reason I decided to stay up instead of just going to sleep. If I had have just went to sleep I wouldn't have had to listen to to the chatter in my head tell me how I could buy a pack and just smoke one when I really need one , etc. , etc. ......infinity. I call it " the committee " in my head. Anyway , I talked me into it. There are people that can have one cigarette and not touch another for 6 months or a year but I'm not it. Needless to say the pack was gone that day and  the quit was up in smoke. Six weeks down the drain because I let myself get overtired. I've also relapsed out of anger as well by times. The demon's patiently waiting to rear it's ugly head and when you're at your weakest is when it will take over. So take care of yourselves and don't get too anything because that's the time it will want to get fed. breather 71 Addict 0
My Milage:

My Quit Date: 11/11/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 71
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,550
Amount Saved: $1,704.00
Life Gained:
Days: 13 Hrs: 3 Mins: 31 Seconds: 52

15 years ago 0 355 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
I may have mentioned that I watched a movie the other night with a serious smoking scene in it.  A scene that was about  smoking, not one that just had smoking in it.  As I watched those people inhaling, I thought I would die right there on the spot.  The want was so strong.  Oddly though, as was talked about in a post by Mr. Quitter recently, I didn't long to be a smoker.  I actually felt sorry for these people (fictional though they were).  But man did I want one of those cigarettes!

Then I look at the few quits I've lost.  I recognize that I had that gut-wrenching yearning.  But it was coupled with success!  Success with your quit is quite heady - but it can be your downfall.  I got too confident.  I thought that I could "control" my smoking.  I thought that I could be one of those people who just has a cigarette every now and then in certain situations.
 
Conclusion, there are many, many faces of a crave.  I have to work to be prepared for all.
Angie

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 12/30/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 22
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 264
Amount Saved: $116.16
Life Gained:
Days: 2 Hrs: 0 Mins: 41 Seconds: 44

15 years ago 0 597 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
I not only do I remember, but still experience it daily!  Getting fewer and farther in-between, and I recognize it and readjust my thinking, but sometimes it is soooooooo consuming!
Good post, Sparky!

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 10/22/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 91
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,640
Amount Saved: $728.00
Life Gained:
Days: 10 Hrs: 7 Mins: 15 Seconds: 22

  • Quit Meter

    $54,420.00

    Amount Saved

  • Quit Meter

    Days: 769 Hours: 19

    Minutes: 12 Seconds: 40

    Life Gained

  • Quit Meter

    5442

    Smoke Free Days

  • Quit Meter

    217,680

    Cigarettes Not Smoked

15 years ago 0 12049 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Great generation for discussion!
 
 
Josie, Health Educator
15 years ago 0 3307 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0

The Faces of a Crave

We all know about craves, right?  We remember the Hell, Heck and Blah week, right?    Then there was the pacing, the body screaming for a smoke.  Wanting a cigarette so badly that you ached for it.  We were almost desperate.  Remember?   

Then we think we have it made, remember those thoughts and then all of a sudden a desire to smoke back and you think you are going crazy.  We yearn for it, knowing it was the monster appearing in our lives again.  WHY???  Then you think about it the crave becomes like a demand.  We hold tight and fight and fight.  Then later in our quits we pine for just one smoke.  We walk past some one smoking and suck the in air in and wish for just a puff or maybe just one and we have to fight again.  Then for some of us we give in and have that puff, then the cigarette and then we buy and we begin again.

I am writing this not only for me, but also for the newcomer or for some like me with a few days and really want this quit.  I have a mantra that I say everyday and it is working.  I remind myself that to smoke is to stink, it means a cough, it means getting up in the middle of the night to smoke, and it means to give up freedom.  I want this quit and I want it for all that is quitting.  I had a pretty decent quit and blew it.  Today, I am smoke free and tomorrow is another day.

What are some of the faces of a crave look like for you?

Keep the Quit

Sparky


My Milage:

My Quit Date: 12/1/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 51
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 510
Amount Saved: $89.25
Life Gained:
Days: 7 Hrs: 9 Mins: 55 Seconds: 32

 


Reading this thread: