Trube Stories: Kicking The Habit - Triggers
By Emily Trube | @KRLDEmily
KRLD -- The National Cancer Institute defines smoking triggers as "...the moods, feelings, places, or things that you do in your daily life that make you want to smoke."
A trigger can be anything, really. Experiencing a trigger is similar to craving Tex Mex when it's cold outside or feeling the urge to drink Earl Grey when you watch "Downtown Abbey" (just me?). A trigger is a bit different from habit. Switching on the radio when you get in the car is a habit. Seeing a wreck and tuning to 1080 AM KRLD to find out what's happening is responding to a trigger, or should be. Right? Right!
Over the past few weeks, I have been paying attention to my smoking triggers and using some useful tracking tools I found on the Become an Ex website, developed by Legacy. I had the chance to talk to one of the people who helped put the site together, Amanda Graham, who is the Director of Research Development at the The Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at the American Legacy Foundation.
While triggers can be largely personal, they all have something in common -- practice. It takes practice to develop them and practice to handle them without relapsing.
"People who have quit cigarettes, a month, three months, even a year later will still talk about these really strong cravings that they get that are triggered by a memory, a particular smell, a song," says Graham. "It's these associations that have become ingrained and that are the tricky things to undo."
Inside Out
Typical external smoking triggers -- the things that make most smokers want a cigarette -- include finishing a meal, drinking alcohol, driving, talking on the phone, seeing other people smoke and drinking or smelling coffee. Plus, there are some personal ones I discovered: getting up in the morning, going to bed at night, walking outside, walking inside, taking a shower, finishing a yoga practice, writing, standing over a stove, sugar, putting on makeup, the smell of stale cigarette smoke in a car and sitting in a movie theater. What? Yes -- movie theaters apparently make me want to smoke, even though I have gone my entire life without smoking in a movie theater. What gives?
"In circumstances where people know that they can't smoke -- on an airplane, in a movie theater, in somebody's house...The fact that they are in an environment where they know that smoking is not an option, can sometimes trigger a craving," says Graham. "It intensifies the focus on what you can't do for that period of time."
I discovered the movie theater trigger while watching Birdman at the Magnolia Theatre a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly, the "sitting in a theater and wanting to chain smoke" trigger did not occur when I saw a live performance of The Flick at Undermain Theatre last week. Kind of strange, because The Flick takes place in a move theater. Hmmmm
It is possible that external forces or some kind of "of my gosh I can't smoke!" anxiety created the smoking trigger during my trip to the movies. It's just as likely, though, that the feelings that surged in me while watching Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance were the true triggers. It is an uncomfortable movie. I scanned Michael Keaton's new, older face every time he was on the screen, searching and waiting for that guy my childhood self remembered from Mr. Mom. The jovial Dad character was nowhere to be found. Instead, I saw a painfully true portrayal of a desperate man. I saw someone who did not know who he was and was terrified that the forces that had motivated him his entire life were, at best, flimsy.
Plus, Birdman puts you right in the heart of the theater district in New York. The film's NYC is modern, but there are so many elements that reminded me of the pre-9/11 Manhattan that I called home for almost 12 years. It was the New York that was still gritty -- the New York with dank basements and faux wood Formica-covered bar tops. It was the New York where you smoked non-stop, anywhere you could. So, it is highly likely that it was the subject matter, combined with the deep and murky feelings of disappointment, regret and loss underneath the entire film that triggered me into wanting to smoke a cigarette, or two, or 40. Perhaps next time I could try something lighter, like Still Alice (kidding).
Internal triggers are mentioned but not fully investigated or discussed on most smoking cessation websites. Typically, you will see a nod to internal turmoil with "stress" listed as a trigger. People smoke when they are "stressed." That is true. But what is stress? For me, it is fear -- Fear with a capital "F."
Speaking of fear, Thursday is Quit Day.
Finding Some New Armor
So, back to external triggers. I have made some additions to the new morning routine I mentioned in my previous blog post. I found some super fab essential oil shower bombs at the store the other day. They are little cakes that look like huge Alka Seltzer tablets that are designed for you to place on the floor of your shower. They react with the water and steam and give off wonderful smells. I chose eucalyptus and lavender. They help me to wake up and it's a nice little treat. Plus, they make my entire house smell like a spa and, thankfully, I have never felt the urge to smoke in a spa. I carried over the aromatherapy idea to my car too. I found a plug-in air freshner you load yourself with your favorite oils. That has helped me big-time with the "driving and sitting in traffic" triggers.
Sugar is a big trigger. I love, love, love chocolate. Ooooo - and cupcakes! But, just thinking about chocolate or a big fluffy vanilla cupcake with butter cream frosting leads me to thinking about coffee, which leads me to thinking about smoking. In addition to coming packed with a ton of taste associations and potential external triggers, sugar also does a number on my energy level. I get very happy and energetic when I'm eating it (Red Velvet!!!) and then about 20 minutes later, I feel like I want to die. The crash is very intense and prompts me to smoke, in order to wake back up again. So, sugar is a no go.
Also out -- alcohol. No wine, beer, scotch, margaritas...Nothing. Cause, I tell you that I WILL smoke if I drink.
I have a sneaking suspicion that white flour may be on the way out too. I hung out yesterday with the one and only Julie Fisk , who wrote up a fun piece about our lunch on her blog JulieSaysSo.com. We had ourselves some serious pasta. I felt the same sugar-type crash afterwards. But, as Scarlet O'Hara says, "I won't think about that now. I'll think about that tomorrow."
I guess to summarize, I've been dealing with the triggers by making some broad-based lifestyle changes. I figure thinking in terms of setting up a good foundation and finding solutions to preventing over-all self-sabotage is half the battle. "God, grant me the Serenity," and all that jazz.
One quick fix I have discovered when an urge to smoke hits while I'm at home -- dancing in my kitchen. Bruno Mars' and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" has gotten me through a tense moment more than once. Thanks guys.
See you on the other side...
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