Coping skills or mechanisms are any items, activities, or skills that help you cope with craves and triggers. Positive ideas like exercise, relaxation techniques, crave baskets and journaling are all types of coping mechanisms.
Use ice cold water, chew sticks and gum for the hand and mouth association
Use exercise, walking and stretching to help you avoid situations that will tempt you
Use hot baths, books and crosswords to help you relax during rough days
Use journaling to help sort emotions and pinpoint triggers.
I've come from the Education tab. Under FAQs I read about needing to replace smoking with less damaging coping skills. Those coping skills are mentioned again here. My question: What exactly are those coping skills? No one's naming them.
My Milage:
My Quit Date: 6/1/2008 Smoke-Free Days: 23 Cigarettes Not Smoked: 805 Amount Saved: $293.83 Life Gained: Days: 2 Hrs: 12 Mins: 43 Seconds: 4
Morning, Crik... How did you get on last night after all? I hope that you got a good night's sleep and strength from having beaten off the cravings.
The nicotine is now gone from your system (day 5) and you are no longer dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Now you are dealing with the deeply embedded psychology behind that addiction to nicotine; you're dealing with learning new habits to replace that reflex action of reaching for a smoke or heading for the door to the outside when you feel stressed (happy, sad, angry, amused, bored, relaxed, buzzed...) When these cravings hit you you have to distract and divert your mind! You are no longer a smoker and, instead of running toward the door, you can come in here and read and post with your fellow quitters... get strength and help - it's always in here....
There is a sister site - The Depression Center.net. Lots of good folk over there to talk to ....
Stay strong and N.O.P.E.
Patrick
My Milage:
My Quit Date: 1/18/2008 Smoke-Free Days: 153 Cigarettes Not Smoked: 3,825 Amount Saved: $1,721.25 Life Gained: Days: 28 Hrs: 10 Mins: 46 Seconds: 14
Pat yourself on the back for being active in your progress. Continue to work with your doctor regarding medications and yes it will take time. Use those coping mechanisms to help push through those tough days and definitely continue the bath before bed routine, it will help relax you.
We are here to support you and we can also see that great determination!
I have never ever run into anyone here or anywhere that said gee I had this ********* problem or issue, I slipped and wow it fixed it all and I felt so much better. Not since I have been here. Trust me on this.
coming here is a good plan. If you get too bad start a thread titled HELP ME and wait for 10 replies.
You can do this, it is wonderful on the other side.
I am here to help. Read read read here. Seriously it kept me from hurting others or exploding. I had wine too. and chocolate. and tons of sour jelly bellies :D
keep hanging on
Sue
My Milage:
My Quit Date: 5/3/2007 Smoke-Free Days: 412 Cigarettes Not Smoked: 4,120 Amount Saved: $824.00 Life Gained: Days: 40 Hrs: 5 Mins: 17 Seconds: 33
Actually its a little better but I took half a tranquilizer and a glass of wine. Please don't chastise me, it was do that or EXPLODE or smoke. Actually I feel a little bit strong about not smoking, due to this forum.. I just have to do this. Quit, even if I go insane which I am doing. Seriously, I am having big difficulties with anxiety and depression (alas, a life long problem). I am in the process of adjusting medications but that can be a long drawn out experiment. But I intend to not smoke even in the midst of this hell. Now I will go have a bath and eat and try stay awaay from a second glass of wine and come back to read more on this site.
My Milage:
My Quit Date: 6/14/2008 Smoke-Free Days: 4 Cigarettes Not Smoked: 40 Amount Saved: $10.00 Life Gained: Days: 0 Hrs: 16 Mins: 28 Seconds: 54
