Day 6 today
After suffering body aches and pains my guess from withdrawal I am still feeling a bit sluggish today. ( lack of interest ) in doing anything Just had something that stressed me out. now I want a cigarette so bad. but I am trying very hard to fight it off. Asking myself is it really worth it. How do you cope with difficult situations especially those early days. I have not gone to shop to buy smokes but boy it's fighting against me.
First thing is IcaNQuitt your body is adjusting so no drama there. I found rest was helpful in the early days, combined with deep breathing and meditation before any stressful event. Ask yourself what would a cigarette do for me, would it alter the situation? No it would not, so the trick is you have to alter your thinking about it. This could be one of the things that you need to work on in yourself, because lets face it we are not perfect. Write down what upset you so much and go from there. The clever sly wolfe is just waiting to take you up the garden path. Don't let it and come back soon.
Lighting up wont take the stress away, in fact you will despise yourself for it in the long run and stay in a relationship of take /take for another year or more.. Smoking never gave us anything but wrinkles, nicotine stains and filth while it stole our health, money and confidence. Did you read my link to Allan Carr?
https://www.reddit.com/r/lastsmoke/comments/7iu9aq/group_reading_allen_carrs_easy_way_to_stop/
As for your lack of ambition or interest, is there anything that you have wanted to do in the past that you did not have the time for (because you worked then) or the money for, that you can spend your new found ash savings on? I learned to play guitar later in life, and picked up a bass to play with the family band at 50. Playing an instrument will keep both hands and mind busy while enjoying the learning process and taking pride in your accomplishment. Sewing, jewelery making , crafts, painting , ( even paint by numbers) or doing a 1000 piece puzzle to mount would be more ideas along that line. Learning helps our bodies to increase our dopamine, which makes us happy. Read about something that interests you. Of course read all that you can here!
Believe in yourself and you will do this. It does get easier and cravings are cravings whether nicotine based or psychological, there is no distinction. After 72 hours of the last nicotine intake (patches included), nicotine in your body is negligible . I regard the patch as a placebo frankly, and if it disagrees with you, its side affects are physical ones. Since patches wean you off of nicotine, you are still craving nicotine while you adjust to the void, a double whammy.
We got addicted because nicotine altered our way of thinking. It was unnatural, but we trained our minds to accept despite the awful taste and gagging and coughing it caused initially. We now need to retrain the mind . Learn about you and nicotine. Accept this journey for the wonderful benefits it will bring. Believe that you are gaining, not losing or giving up anything. Believe that you really are going to win this time because you do have the tools to. The battle truly is won in the mind.
Eat sunflower seeds. Helps to forget the hand to mouth motion that every smoker is so used to. And harden your resolve not to smoke when the craving starts. It's painful but it'll go away. Sending courage and perseverance. You can overcome. Cheers
I am now nearing the end of day 9 and feeling proud of myself. I did not succumb to my stressful situation I lost it for a bit and almost went and got a packet of smokes. But I touched my patch and told myself to distract myself for awhile. I went and sat in the car for awhile and just listened to music until I calmed down and got my head back into the space it needed to be. Thank you so much for all of your help. Doing something I love sure did help. Thank you all so kindly