I still can't believe that...

[Damocles]

over a year after I quit smoking I still have some really strong cravings for a cigarette...

Will they ever end?!

[Cancel7]

I quite several years ago. Pretty much as soon as I was out of my 20's, I could no longer run with no effects from the smoking. So I quit it, because I'm addicted to running and it was the one thing I wouldn't give up for smoking.

I still crave them. Worse, I know people who have told me they quit 20 years ago, and that if they invented a cig tomorrow that had no ill health effects, they would go back.

So, no, I don't think they ever end. Just picture yourself dying a very painful death from lung cancer whenever you get the urge. That seems to work for men. I picture women I know who are ten years old then I am, and look 20 or more years older. From smoking.

[Damocles]

Sigh... Not very promising.

[Thorn]

A lot of it seems to depend on what you tell yourself. I quit more than ten years ago, and simply said not "I quit smoking", but "I don't smoke". It seems a trivial distinction, but has enough psychological impact to make a difference.

If you've changed nothing else in your life, though, those smoking-related cues are all around you and at times they can be pretty powerful. The best thing to do there is to actively form new associations for each of those cues, and make them non-smoking related.

I guess I was stubborn about it, and maybe that helped. Once I stopped for good (and had never smoked in the house or the Jeep, so those associations didn't exist) I honestly didn't crave again. Now I find the smell of cigarette smoke aversive and try to avoid it whenever possible.

[Cancel7]

Hmm. No, I think that could be an important distinction, and I'm going to start thinking about myself that way. Because I still think of myself as an ex-smoker, and maybe that's not such a great idea.

[Damocles]

I think of smoking as something I used to do... It doesn't keep the cravings away.

[LadyT]

wish I was addicted to running.

[Cancel7]

wish I was addicted to running.

Have you ever done it Tiana? You never know, because it is addictive. But you have to do it for a while, regularly, before you feel it. I know you go to the gym right? I do too, but I never got addicted to the treadmill. It's running outside that I love.

[LadyT]

Yeah, I'll do "my version of" running. I just never seem to enjoy it. I do it because I don't want to be a fat pig, but its work and every second I'm running/counting down until my 20-25 minutes is up, I know that I'm working. Any tips? I've been hoping some endorphins would be released, just once......but no such luck.

[Cancel7]

Yeah, I'll do "my version of" running. I just never seem to enjoy it. I do it because I don't want to be a fat pig, but its work and every second I'm running/counting down until my 20-25 minutes is up, I know that I'm working. Any tips? I've been hoping some endorphins would be released, just once......but no such luck.

The only tip I have, if it can be called one, is that, I'm the way you describe when I run on the treadmill, which of course, I have to do all winter. But in the summer, spring and fall, I run outside as often as I can, weather permitting. And for whatever reason, that's when I get a high from it that I just don't get on the treadmill. Even though, the treadmill is just as good, and can even be a better run, because I notice I push myself more on the treadmill, constantly upping the speed. But I still don't get the high. On the other hand, I've gotten that addictive feeling about spin classes lately. I love them.