Deep breaths, drink some ice water, run your hands under warm water. Not contagious.

heheh, we'll see.

"... I wonder if this is contagious."
post by: mischief at: 23:31

Yes. Yes it is.

I probably should've skipped those stogies at deer camp, too... But hey, at least they weren't cigarettes!

Sass speaks wise - distract yourself.

It happens from time to time. After five years, I still get the occasional urge. It means I'm kinda stressed, is all. Maybe the same is true for you. If you're seriously thinking of a cig, this is when the 4 Ds come in really handy - Deep breathing, Drink water, Distract yourself, Do anything other than smoke.

*lights delicious Marlboro, inhales deeply*

Death tastes sooooooo good.

... and smells so rotten.

Everybody really enjoys smoking until the day you don't.

Here's the thing: I'm not going to lie to you and pretend that first inhale is anything other than heavenly.

But you know why it's heavenly, right? 'Cause you're a drug addict. (I am too.) Yeah, a drug addict.

So, give in! We're no better than a junkie on the corner with a needle in our arm.

But you know, that tactic doesn't work. So pay attention to those who say you STINK. 'Cause you do.

Jesus, that was a lot more preach-y than I intended. If you want to smoke - smoke. Just make sure you aren't idealizing it. I do that all the time. OH GOD, it would feel so good.

Yeah, for that moment.

But, goodness, I know how you feel. I want a goddamned cigarette.

Man, I thought I was the only one. My mother comes in occasionally smelling of smoke, and I get just ravenous for one.

You bastards. Utter, utter, utter bastards. I have been dealing with that particular monkey for a couple of weeks now, even after more than three years off the fags and the last thing I needed was another reminder. Like Miko, I'm sure it is stress-related, which helps not one damned bit.

Oh god, the thought of that first drag has been driving me to distraction lately. Maybe it is contagious and it is one of those new diseases that spreads through the Internet!

Great. Thanks. *lights up*

'course I'm a serious smoker. I was just going to go to bed, but now I'll have to stay up for one more.

DON'T DO IT MISCHIEF! YOU CHOSE TO QUIT AND WORKED HARD FOR IT! KEEP IT THAT WAY!

People in AA have a saying "think through the drink." Yeah, you lust for that first drink, but once you're through it, what's on the other side? Plunging back into a habit-dependent and miserable lifestyle. That works for me with smoking, too. Thinking through the potential cigarette to how I'll feel, mentally and emotionally, after I have it, the days of panicked nervousness about whether I'm backsliding, the constant temptation"You blew it anyway, have another," gradually leading back into full-blown, expensive addiction...that's a lot less pretty than the way I imagine I'll feel after one cigarette.

At this point, though, it really is imagining. A cig wouldn't really be that good anyway. If I had a cig now I'd be lightheaded and it would taste gross and hurt my throat. My body would rebel - it's been too long.

But anyway. Think through it. Once I understood that I had spent years upon years condition my brain to seek the stimulus of this drug, it was much easier to understand why my brain would whine, wheedle, cadge, and plead to find some way, any way, to get its fix. It comes in the guise of a wilful craving, but it's really an addiction going through its death throes, attempting to hang on for dear life for the existence it has known for a long time. It takes a while to lay the new neural pathways, and until then, every now and then sudden urges pop up. But they're not important.