Congrats to you for not smoking and for figuring out what triggered the crave. Thanks for the input, I was wondering the same thing myself. I have not had to deal with that part yet. Now I know what I can do when it does happens. Thanks, Keep up the good work!!!!!

I think it was just the trigger syndrome. I was normal for you to join your sister to a smoke. On the bright side, you made it through. Hey, congrats on two months, how is that bike doing? Anymore fantastic rewards??? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/8/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 56 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 848 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $235.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 19

Since I joined this site, I've read several posts from folks who said they'd had some type of family function or get-together and that it was really hard, that they had a VERY tough time with not smoking. My family only usually gets together on holidays. Because I quit on New Year's Eve, there hasn't been a holiday since, so I haven't been around them. Well, yesterday was my mother's birthday party (80 years young!). I was actually looking forward to "bragging" to everyone about my quit! We have a really large family, and there were only two of us that smoked (well, now there's only one), so I knew that my brothers and sister and cousins and nieces and nephews (and my mom) were going to be really happy for me. And they were, and that was really cool! But... About a half an hour after we got there, I was hit with this major crave! The only family member who still smokes (one of my sisters) was there and she walked past and I smelled the stale smoke on her and almost gagged but STILL I was jonesing for a cigarette myself! Even though I'd read these other similar posts, I totally did not expect to get hit with it myself - not with my family being 99% nonsmokers. So I started wondering (right there at the party while I was still experiencing it) WHAT is causing this?! Is it some kind of family-related stress that I never learned to cope with, without a smoke? (Because even though everyone was being nicey-nice and getting along yesterday, there IS history there of not-so-nice times between certain family members and so there's just always this kind of low level of tension, ya know?) So yeah I suppose it could be that a little bit, but it didn't feel exactly right. Close, but not exactly. Is it just a "habit," a trigger borne from years and years of "this is what I do a half-hour into a family event?" I've dealt with the habit thing in every part of my life, like driving, being on the computer, etc., and I did that during hell week and heck week and got it over and in the past. But since we hadn't had a family event yet, I hadn't had a chance to go through it yet. Yeah, that all was true, but it still wasn't exactly the issue. Everyone is different, but I finally think I figured out what caused it for me. I took a step outside.

hi sammijo congrats on getting through the evening without caving well done lynnexx [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/24/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 132 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,981 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �528 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 14 [B]Hrs:[/B] 20 [B]Mins:[/B] 35 [B]Seconds:[/B] 26

There you go SammiJo, you gave the answer yourself. It was the break you were missing. And since you had not seen your family it was a trigger that you had to go through. Easy huh?. You're on the way SammiJo, you're doing great!! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/1/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 338 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 10,141 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �997.1 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 47 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 51 [B]Seconds:[/B] 15

Hi SammiJo, Congratulations on managing a tricky situation. I am so imprseed that you managed to be so analytical in the middle of a crave. But the fact that you could analyse the situation saved your butt. I am envious, that is a wonderful skill. I mcan just tell that you have well and tryuly got this smoking thing licked ! Cheers Kiwikeith [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 9/29/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 157 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,927 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1821.2 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 23 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 37 [B]Seconds:[/B] 24

Sammi, Thanks for sharing your success with us! You did a great job and breaking was an excellent coping mechanism. Looks like someone needs a reward :) Josie _____________________ The SSC Support Team.