31. How do I avoid relapsing during stressful times?
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This article is from the Stop Smoking FAQ, by 70424.57@compuserve.com with numerous contributions by others.
31. How do I avoid relapsing during stressful times?
You can avoid a lot of the things that trigger the urge to smoke until you
feel ready to handle them. But stress, bad news, and sad events come on
their own terms, and when they do, they make many of us return to the
comfort of that false friend, smoking.
There isn't any technique to guarantee that you won't smoke when the going
gets really tough, and you'd only be human if you did. But if you can try
to remember that smoking is only temporary relief and can't really solve
your problem, you might get through. Here's how Nat <nacjr@iglou.com> put
it:
"My dad died in March of lung cancer. I had quit a couple of months
prior to that and started back during the days leading up to the funeral.
What I'm going to say may sound hard, but I feel more compassion than you
know.
My daddy died.
I smoked just one.
My daddy was still dead.
I smoked some more.
He was still dead.
The estate pressures were still there.
My momma still needed me.
My family still needed me.
I was once again a fully involved addict with a lot of grief and
pressures.
I have had to go through the quit all over again.
"We learn to deal with our emotions through smoking. A crisis arises after
2-3 years and we want to smoke. The quit process never ends. Every day we
must make a conscious decision to either win or lose. If you look at it
right, it's an opportunity that the never-smoker doesn't have: victory over
the most addictive substance in our culture!"
Another way to deal with a strong urge is to beat it senseless. :) Here,
Susan <sharpie5@aol.com> describes her battle with what we like to call the
Nicobeast:
"... in a drunken stupor, I did the only thing I could do. I got in a
barfight with him. I would have slammed him onto the pool table but it's a
British Pub, no table. I would have hit him with a beer bottle but I was
drinking mixed drinks. So I hit him. Hard. Then I kicked him right where it
hurts. Rest assured my friends, there will be no little nicobeasts running
around ... if you know what I mean. I was trying not to be too obvious
about beating him up as I didn't want my friends to notice. Fortunately, we
were outside. So I pretended to be stomping my feet to keep warm. Really I
was stomping the nicobeast into so much hamburger helper. I had to sing Ave
Maria to cover those awful squeals that he made. I can't carry a tune in a
bucket. It was a little embarrassing, but worth it. I walked away
unscathed."
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