smoke-free stress relief

When Disaster Strikes
Coping with Stress Due to Trauma Smoke Free
By Terry Martin, About.com
Updated: December 29, 2005

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

The magnitude of Hurricane Katrina has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people forever. The devastation is heartbreaking and extremely stressful. From broken homes and families to soaring gas prices and shortages, we’ll all be feeling the repercussions of this disaster for a long time to come. My heart goes out to those who have suffered such tremendous loss.

Emotional effects from large scale traumatic events can put a person’s quit program in jeopardy. As smokers, we always treated stress by lighting up. We used nicotine to calm us. We thought it helped us deal with difficult issues more efficiently. We were wrong of course, but we believed it so strongly and self-medicated with nicotine so often, the response became ingrained. Significant stress can bring urges to smoke up to the surface, even for those of us with a lot of smoke free time under our belts.

If you find yourself craving a cigarette as a result of tension over recent events, use the following tips to help you stay on track with your quit smoking program.
Coping with Trauma Smoke Free:

* Seek support. Spend time with family and friends. Share your feelings and concerns openly, and let others help you cope. We all feel better when we support one another.
* For online support around the clock, visit the Smoking Cessation Forum here at About.com. This very active community of people quitting tobacco offers outstanding support and camaraderie that has helped thousands of people quit smoking successfully for the long term.
* Get back to life as usual if you’re able to. Routine can be soothing to raw nerves.
* Revisit your list of reasons to quit smoking. They are no less true today than they were before the traumatic event.
* Get enough rest. Lack of sleep increases stress and compromises your ability to maintain smobriety. If you’re suffering from insomnia, try some of these tips to help you get some sleep.
* Recognize rationalizations. If you’re engaging in elaborate mental somersaults trying to justify why you should smoke, you’re stuck in junkie thinking. Pay attention to your thoughts – don’t let yourself stray into dangerous territory.
* Reward yourself. Declare TODAY as a milestone in your recovery from nicotine addiction and do something nice for yourself. Acknowledge the value of what you’re doing to free yourself from this deadly habit.
* Get some exercise. Go for a walk and burn off some of that stress you’re feeling. Not only is it good for you, but exercise is a great way to bust cravings.
* Focus on TODAY. Set small goals and you won’t feel out of control. Don’t worry about never being able to smoke again. Think about the day you have in front of you and resolve to make it smoke free. Baby steps! Don’t let tomorrow intimidate you today.
* Honor your grief. Take the time you need to cry and mourn the loss you feel. Rather than push aside the enormity of what has happened, let feelings flow as they come and deal with them, one at a time. It will help you recover more quickly.
* Use distraction to help you cope with individual urges as they arise. Most urges to smoke are 5 minutes or less in length. If you can find enjoyable ways to take a mental detour, you'll be able to diffuse cravings before they have a chance to grow.
* Get away from it all. Take a break from the TV news for awhile. Go to a movie or immerse yourself in a good book.

Smoking won’t make anything in your life better. It won’t relieve stress, and it won’t fix problems. Urges to smoke as a result of stressful situations can and will happen occasionally as you recover from this addiction. We spent many years smoking, and it only makes sense that events, especially those which produce dramatic emotional responses will also bring about thoughts of smoking. It doesn’t mean you need to smoke, and it doesn’t mean you’re going to fail. It simply means you have triggered an old way of responding to stress.

Each time you navigate your way through stress smoke free, choosing options other than smoking to deal with your tension, you’re working to reprogram old habits and responses. Give yourself time and smoking will lose its power to attract, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Remember, cravings to smoke are not commands. They’re only thoughts. You don’t have to act on them.

Don’t let hard times reawaken the addict within. Honor the precious gift that life is by doing all you can to nurture your own.

MY THOUGHTS

I was trying to avoid this topic. But what better way to educate oneself. For me, smoking is the hardest habit to break. I have no excuses. I just have no discipline. But if I know, if I pray about it, God will help me. So I'm praying right now for the desire to obey my Maker, more than anything else.