Tony,
THere are several times when rewards are very important:
#1 Whenever you feel like you're really down and want to smoke. Rewards help boost dopamine, a drug that the body produces naturally that gets robbed when we quit. Nicotine was sort of a way of self-medicating, and it delivered something very similar to dopamine... so much so that the body actually shuts down the dopamine centers in the brain, so that when we quit, we get depressed (for more on this, read Shevie's "Rewards, Nicotine and the Brain... I bumped it recently, so it's either on the first or second page in the main forum). Rewards help give us natural dopamine, so if you're feeling low, give yourself a reward!
#2 - Whenever you make it through a REALLY tough crave or a difficult situation! Train your body that quitting is rewarding. It's not always easy, so if you have a difficult time that you have to go through, reward yourself well for making it through.
#3 - Major Milestones. 1 week, 1 month, 50 days, etc... whatever YOU decide is "major." There's no set rule about when to reward yourself, and the "reward police" aren't going to come arrest you for rewarding yourself on a milestone that isn't a "true" milestone! ;p The major milestone one is, in my opinion, the most important one because we've been trained as humans that when we reach a "goal," there's a prize waiting for us. If we reach a milestone and there's no prize, we look to the reward that we used to always use... cigarettes. Cigarettes are NOT rewards for quitting!!! DUH!!! But I can't TELL you how many times I, and others, have thought about having a cigarette for reaching a milestone! So always remember to reward yourself on special days.
Crave the Quit!
Pam
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/28/2005
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 403
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 10,093
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1664.39
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 29 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 13 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39
