Day 14: Dealing with Anger without Nicotine

Personally, this morning sucked craving-wise. I got into a bad argument with my significant other, and it took quite the effort not to smoke. I took deep breaths, talked to myself about what it would mean to smoke, how it would not change my situation, how it would only make me feel bad and how I would end my quit, end my blog and lose the good momentum that I have been maintaining. I accepted the craving feelings for what they were and rode out the panic of it all. It sucked, and it felt good to finish it without smoking and get on with my day. I did not pick up that cigarette and puff out my problems.


This leads me to wonder about a section I am reading in Yes! You Can Stop Smoking by David C. Jones. He speaks of how whenever a smoker gets ticked they immediately reach for a cigarette. Now we know that when we take that first puff the nicotine reaches our brain within 7 seconds and proceed to stimulate our senses of safety, warm-fuzzy feel good chemicals such as dopamine and basically artificially make us feel okay. So what Jones says is that instead of facing the problem that has made us angry in the first place, we smoke instead.


Now in one way I can buy into this, that yes our brain is artificially being stimulated by nicotine. I feel calmer, more thoughtful and at ease with my situation. I am not going to smoke that cigarette and the problem goes away though. We still deal with the problem, hopefully. What Jones states is that when we quit, all of the anger we suppress while smoking comes out. I don't know this seems like a little over-thinking of the situation. It is almost saying that smokers can't deal with their issues.  Puffing away on a cancer stick is not going to make the problem go away. But that doesn't mean smokers aren't smart enough to solve their anger issues. This guy is not a doctor, though he is a director of a stop smoking program.


I do think that when a smoker goes to smoke a cigarette after experiencing a stressful situation, they are breaking themselves from the situation. They are separating themselves from the situation and are allowing themselves time to rationalize what is happening. Recovering smokers face this anger head on, can't escape it because escaping means smoking. We have to figure out how to take that time out without smoking. We have to figure this out while facing strong cravings because of stress. This rises our stress levels and makes us even more angry. Without proper tools and education in dealing with stressful situations, we are doomed to smoke because we do not know how to do this without a cigarette in our hand.