Thank you for your comments here...The idea of understanding the intensity of infrequent cravings as ghosts is a good one...I hope that you are doing well and moving forward...
It occurred to me tonight that perhaps the cravings we experience when quitting are actually less frequent and intense than when we were actively using.
When we were actively using nicotine, we were in a constant state of craving and trying to maintain a particular nicotine level in the bloodstream. We constantly gave in to those internal addictive demands, and the demands kept on coming. It was like a continuous internal regulation of nicotine levels.
When we quit, and the nicotine has left the system, those demands are actually a lot less frequent. The reason we notice them so acutely is because they are less frequent. Craves didn't catch our attention before, since we were always in a state of craving; craving was part of the standard operating procedure each day. Yet it is no longer part of standard operating procedure, as we move further and further from physical addiction.
The craves that we are having are analogous to ghosts from a physically addicted past that is no longer alive. They may surprise us and catch our attention because they are more novel now. And they may seem real, but they are not.
That craving is just a bad memory from when we were addicted. It is OK to let that memory go.
