Some quick things:
1. The craves are caused by smoking; not by quitting. You don't crave heroin because you've never been hooked on heroin.
2. A crave is a sign of healing, of addiction leaving the body.
3. The actual craving for nicotine is so slight as to be unnoticeable. A crave is nearly 100% mental, and no crave lasts longer than 5 minutes. If you can distract yourself, if you can hang on for five minutes, you've got it licked.
4. You can white-knuckle your way through it, but the easiest route I ever did was Wellbutrin/Zyban in concert with the patch. It was easy... Maybe TOO easy, if that makes any sense. My problem was that I got cocky and convinced myself that I'd beaten it. And then I wondered what "just one" would taste like. The thing is, there is no such thing as "just one." I don't want "just one." I want all 20-30 of them everyday.
5. Every morning is a new commitment. Look yourself in the eye in the mirror and say, "Today, just for today, smoking is not an option." And each morning, renew that commitment.
6. Get a little time off of these things and then when a crave comes, say to yourself, "Do you REALLY want to start this whole thing up again? The shame, the stench, the destruction of your health, the expense, the filth of ashtrays and ashes dropping at the worst time, etc..."
7. Being a smoker means always having to apologize.
(See? I know all the answers. I'm just really bad at following through!)
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here. It's been a very consistent habit for me!! Thanks!
