Highly Emotional Situations

Like stress, these things can be big triggers to smoke: 

• A bad fight or argument
• A financial setback
• Getting bad news
• Losing someone or something important to you
• A relationship break-up
• Any other highly emotional situation

Situations like these can be very difficult to see coming. But it's a good idea to think about what you would do if something like this happened to you. You might want to think back on an emotional situation from before, and picture yourself going through it now, without smoking.

What can you do if you find yourself in a highly emotional situation?

• Let yourself feel whatever emotions come up.
• Talk with someone you trust about how you feel.
• Write in a notebook or journal.
• Focus on what you need to do to get through the situation.

If you are tempted to smoke, ask yourself, "What do I expect to get from a cigarette?" Whatever the need is, find some other way to take care of it. A cigarette won't make the problem go away. It could make it worse.  On top of dealing with the problem itself, you'd also have to get back on track with quitting.