Stop Smoking Day 4 Tuesday March 25, 2008

It's day 4 already. I woke up about 5:30 am again today. I'm retired so I don't have to get up early. It's just that I feel better getting up early. It's been 72 hours since I've had my last cigarette. All the nicotine should be out of my body by now. Day 4 went pretty good. I did have some pretty powerful cravings around 3:00pm this afternoon.

I did some deep breathing exercises. This consists of taking a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds. Do this 3 or 4 times and the craving will leave. Or it's supposed to anyway.lol. Day 4 was probably the roughest day so far. I had to lay down at one point during the afternoon and listen to one of my self hypnosis audio cd's. This really helped and the cravings left.

You shouldn't be afraid of hypnosis. It can't harm you and you will never do anything against your will. They just put you in a very relaxed state of mind. And the hypnotherapist will speak and guide you through the session. You can order these cd's from amazon.com They have them for stopping smoking, Losing weight, lots of other things. You can find a couple of links to the stop smoking hypnosis cd's in the post I made yesterday or day before yesterday.

Do these hypnosis cd's work? I really don't know. What I do know is that for me. They really relax me and make the cravings go away. Just another tool I'm using in this cold turkey quit. As previously stated, I've blown several quits before. The cold turkey method is the only one I believe that really works longterm.

A 4 and a half month quit was blown last year. It had been a long time since I had even thought about a cigarette. However, my energy level was pathetic. I didn't want or desire to ride my bike for exercise. I used to ride 10 -12 miles everyday for exercise. Although I wasn't craving cigarettes at the time. Here is how I blowed a 4 and a half month quit.

I decided one night that I would take a few puffs off a cigarette to see if my energy level would increase. I still had cigarettes in the house after 4 and a half months. So, I lit one up and took 3 quick puffs off it. My energy level did increase after taking the 3 puffs. I felt a little bit of guilt, but not much. However, I didn't want to throw away a 4 and a half month quit.

For the next 2 days I didn't smoke any. Then I had a junkie thought. I would become a social smoker. You know, just smoke a pack a week or just on weekends. That didn't work out to good. Within a few days I was smoking every day. I never went back to the normal amount I had previously smoked which was about 30 cigarettes a day. For the last year I've averaged smoking about 16 cigarettes per day.

The 46 day quit 2 years ago was thrown away with an argument I had with a relative. I've been through hell week as the forums call it probably 5 or 6 times. That's the first 7 days without a cigarette for you folks that don't know. The bottom line is I'm a nicotine addict and always will be. If I take a puff I may go back into total relapse. I can never take another puff off a cigarette again.

Anyone who has smoked for any period of time knows this if They have tried to quit. I know lots of people that have blown quits that are several years old. A cig addict can never take another puff. I thought I might be an exception to this rule. However, I'm not an exception. I'm an addict just like everyone else. To take one puff means to throw any quit away. It doesn't matter if the quit is 2 days old. Or 2 years old.

I ordered a book from amazon yesterday. Another tool to go in my stop smoking arsenal. It's a book by Allen Carr entitled: The Easy Way To Stop Smoking This book has over 386 reviews. Most are 5 stars. Which is unbelievable for a book on any subject. The price is only $10.14. I ordered it after seeing all the fantastic reviews and how many people this book has helped to stop smoking.

Here's a link to the book. You may want to buy this yourself if your thinking about stopping smoking. It's only $10.14, that's less than a price for a large pizza. Here's the link.

The Easy Way To Stop Smoking

I've been rambling. I made it through day 4 without much problem. I'm taking this quit very seriously. I know I have to take each day...one day at a time.