G'mornin' Rman :)
I reckon everyone can relate to stress. It's just one of those "life things"... But, we're each so very different. How we handle it becomes the issue as we tackle this addiction and retrain our brains.
You said your mind goes back to "whatever was in the smoke that told you everything was okay and that you were relaxed". Well, we might as well call a duck a duck, right?... it was the nicotine relieving your withdrawals...which probably came every few minutes under stress. Unfortunately, it left you with a false sense of dealing with the issues instead of allowing you to truly deal with it unmedicated.
You are showing such strength, determination, resolve...willpower which is good... but wow, how absolutely exhausting to do that for the long term, huh? We're in control now, not our addiction. We may not be pros at handling these things yet but we will be with practice.
Other than swimming (simply because we can't do that all the time), are you actively searching to replace smoking when dealing with stress or being near other smokers? Do you have a new and improved strategy? We have to learn those new ways and break those mind associations and we have to do it over and over and over until our minds don't wander back to smoking and gives in to our new strategy.
By all means, give yourself that year...and at the end of that year, if you need it, give yourself another 2 months. Take the long way home... Eventually, you'll get there. :)
N.O.P.E.
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/2/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 588
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 11,768
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2099.16
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 62 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 20 [B]Seconds:[/B] 54
-
Quit Meter
$20,426.39
Amount Saved
-
Quit Meter
Days: 768
Hours: 5
Minutes: 24
Seconds: 23
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
5251
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
105,020
Cigarettes Not Smoked
