I've been seeing a few posts about people craving after quitting a long time ago and I think I know why.

Having only gone a month or so I'm obviously in a very different situation to some of you who have been quit 1, 2 or 3 years but bear with me. I've been quit over a month and I'm having a craving. It can't be because of nicotine because nicotine will have all but gone from my system after 2 or 3 weeks but I think I know why.

My flat mates are out of town and I'm alone. I've done nothing all day but I can't bring myself to give up and play video games because I will have the work I didn't do (but need to do) hanging over my head. My sleep cycle's fucked up and I'm tired and hungry (cutting calories ATM). Generally I feel like shit and guess what, I'm having a craving.

It can't be the nicotine as I said but it seems fairly clear to me that I want a cigarette to make me feel better not because I actually need one but because I associate cigarettes with feeling better. The mental association of cigarettes with fixing a bad situation is apparently very long lived.

Whatever feeling I'm having must be common to non-smokers and smokers because nicotine has been ruled out as a factor by 5 weeks cold turkey. Everyone has shit days, it seems, where we look for something to cheer us up and make us feel better. Some people will have a drink, some will comfort eat and we, historically, had a cigarette. Now we can't have one we notice those bad days more acutely. The only solution is to find another way to make you feel better: go out, meet people and treat yo' self in a way that won't damage your health.

In other words you want a cigarette because your having a bad day. Your not having a bad day because you want a cigarette. You don't want a cigarette specifically; your craving good feelings in whatever form you can find them. There no reason you should be any more susceptible to cigarettes now than at any other time. Find a way to deal with bad days like a non-smoker; that's what I'm going to try and do.