You all are doing so well! Addiction is terrible because it teaches us to lie to ourselves and to find ways to justify our behaviors. There is a professor at George Mason University, Dr. Robert Smith, and he has done research on nicotine and the adolescent brain of rats vs adult rats. He found that the adolescent rats were much more sensitive to the nicotine and developed many more receptor sites for the nicotine, whereas the adult rats had little change. I bet most of us, if not all of us, started smoking while still a teenager. Our brains are wired for addiction. Unfortunately, his study showed that we would also be wired for other addictions as well. So, this is one of the most difficult things to overcome.
We are all amazing individuals to be this serious about quitting and making it through these struggles. Dr. Smith said his wife smokes and he doesn't think she will ever quit because of how addictive smoking is. I think I recall him saying (but this was years ago) the only way to really quit an addiction is to substitute it for something else. I'm not sure I agree with him on it being the ONLY way, but I think it does make it easier if we substitute the smoking habit for a healthy habit.
It has been 2 weeks since I quit smoking and I have been nicotine free for one day. I was worried last night because after a LONG week at work, I drank a couple glasses of sangria. I was worried that would trigger me to smoke. My son's boyfriend smokes...so I know I could easily get one, but I didn't and I didn't even have the craving. I know I have to be really careful...drinking is a huge trigger for me...luckily I don't drink often!
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