Congrats! 200 days is a huge milestone.

It sounds like you are totally in control despite the cravings you have been having. Nice work.

 

I hope you have a nice reward planned for yourself tomorrow.

 

 

John,

I call it the post achievement letdown.  What happened with me is I would keep my eye so tuned into getting to a certain point in my quit that when it finally happened I would get a little depressed as the goal had already been achieved.  There is strange little thought of what's next?  The other issue that happened with me is I started getting a little bored with my quit at your stage. I worked so hard those first weeks and month and as it started getting easier. I started taking it for granted that quitting was difficult and therefore I started forgetting how horrible the addiction really is.  This is why I call your stage slightly dangerous as you really need to keep your eye on the ball and not take your progress you have had for granted.  You have accomplished a lot here and you want to set your sights forward for the person 6 months quit and then the big 1 year after that.  Also remember all those reasons you quit again just to not forget why you did this.  And lastly the rewards are big at this stage.  Count the money saved and take some pennies and do something fun for yourself.  A lot of times we are not used to rewarding ourselves as the ciggies "supposedly" did this for us in the past.  But now we need to make up real rewards that are lasting.  I'm sure you will find old posts on what those could be but they definitely don't need to cost a lot of money.   Congrats by the way on your recent achievement.

Ron 

I'm with Lolly. Triggers can be kind of random, and not necessarily linked to any anniversary date. But if you put a lot of energy into worrying about a particular date being a trigger, then it probably will be one. 

 

Regardless of what triggers you or when you are triggered, the game is still the same. If you don't want to relapse, you don't respond to a trigger by smoking. As we all know, the feeling will pass.  

It's difficult to say what triggers these "urges".  I used to get urges and cravings when I would see certain people light up.  That seems to have gone now.  I do not want to physically smoke anymore but rarely I crave the illusion of placidity and calmness that smoking gave us.  It's all in our head life is much better without cigarettes.  I guess all ex smokers will get a craving every now and then.  As everybody points out the cravings don't last long and are really easy to overcome.  It's not worth the trouble to relapse.

 

 

I had a couple of nightmares that I smoked again these past 10 days.  I guess that's part of the equation too, I noticed the last times I had the nightmares was after drinking.  Since I enjoy various beverages a little too often and the nightmares are not so frequent I will not associate them to ingestion of alcohol. 

 

Getting back to the urges discussion.  I used to be a chain smoker so it is difficult for me to discuss about triggers for me personally because I used to smoke all the time.  When it was necessary though I could go for hours without smoking and I was fine too.  The only time when I "had to smoke" these past 24 years, was when I used the W.C.  That was the hardest part for me when I quit.  Nicotine being a stimulant has a great effect on intestinal movement.  I had terrible constipation for 2 weeks after I quit.  Now 100 days later things are better :)   

 

John

 

 

Hello,

 

Having urges three months after a quit, and even beyond is normal and very common. What do you think triggered these thoughts?

 

 

Hi yts.,

 

I would not stress too much about the 3 month point.....all this, (a relapse point) can happen to anyone at any time.  Nothing miraculous will happen at 3 months or after that.  You will continue with your quit happy in the knowledge that you have coping mechanisms in place for whatever the Nicodemon throws at you.  Yes, we all had the odd urge to smoke, and there are lots of triggers, but, as I say, if you have the coping strategies ready, you will win.

My worst one was after 9 months, when the water tank in our house in Italy leaked all over the basement floor.  I was VERY stressed, but the only time I had the urge for a cig. was hours after the clear up, when I was in reward mode, so I went upstairs and had a relaxing bubble bath as a reward instead. The answer is, "Be Prepared"

 

 

Love Lolly.