First off, excellent work avoiding that pack!! You should be proud of yourself, 10 days is an absolute milestone.

The reality is this, as smokers we learned to relax while smoking. The cigarette itself doesn't magically dissolve stress, it's just a way of distracting ourselves from it. Billions of non-smokers (you included!) deal with stress everyday and never even consider a smoke.

I think that once we quit, we remember smokings effect on stress through rose-coloured lenses, because the thought of having a smoke would alleviate the stress of quitting. It's the parasite attaching itself to your psyche and promising things it can't provide.

Let's remember the real stress of constantly worrying about where and when we were going to have that next smoke. The on-the-stop calculus our brains performed the second we walked into a situation where we couldn't smoke, in order to calculate a plan for the next one. How about the stress of knowing that you're having a tight month financially but by god never even considering not buying those cigs. That's real stress, the stress of slavery. Everyone of us had a severe case of Stockholm syndrome if we ever thought smoking actually alleviated stress. It never did, we just dealt with stress by smoking.

You know what would be really stressful? Receiving the worst news from your doctor because you failed to pass this test. Having to get your affairs in order and say goodbye to your family because you "just couldn't deal with the stress".

You're doing absolutely fantastic, remember, 1 step backwards is a loss of all progress. You don't get to slip up on this journey and pick back up where you left off. You start all over again right back at the beginning.

Never another cigarette.

-Sam

Sam, you have a way of just nailing it!
Good job, you didn't cave.
We are proud of you.

We've all been brainwashed into believing smoking helps us in these situations- in reality it does no such thing! If they really helped with stress they'd be advertising this on the packs- but they can't because it's simply not true!
I believed the same for a long time- but it's actually the controlled deep breaths we take when inhaling a smoke that helps calm you- and we are all capable of taking those same calming deep breaths without the cigarette. Inhale some nice fresh air instead of the poison- you've got this!

So glad you didn't run and buy a pack. Ten days is a huge accomplishment congrats! Keep up the great work!

Thank you everyone for the support .

Congratulations to you glad you pressed on It's really not worth going back♥️♥️♥️

Congratulations on not buying that pack and posting here. You don't want to start over. Stay strong… don't let nicotine control your life again. You deserve better

I hear you. That's how I used to deal with stress too. So glad you were strong and pushed on. It gets easier each time… to stay strong and resist. You've done so well!! ♥️