Right now

You want to smoke. Give it fifteen minutes.

A craving feels like it will keep climbing until you give in. It won't. It rises, peaks, and falls on its own, usually within about fifteen minutes, whether or not you do anything about it. This page is here to get you across that gap. Start the timer, then pick something below and let the wave pass under you.

Worth a bookmark for the next time it hits.

Ride the wave
15:00

Notice the urge without fighting it. It's a wave, not a command.

Things to do this minute

Pick one and start before you finish reading it

Get out of the room

  • Put your shoes on and walk, even ten minutes around the block
  • Go to a shop and buy nothing in particular
  • Take a hot shower
  • Step outside and just stand in the air for a minute

Move your body

  • Twenty press-ups or squats, enough to actually feel it
  • Stretch it out on the floor
  • Put one song on loud and move to it
  • Clean or tidy one small thing to done

Keep your hands and eyes busy

  • Start an episode of something: permission to rot for a bit
  • Cook or make some food from scratch
  • A quick game or puzzle on your phone, anything absorbing
  • Draw, doodle, a jigsaw, anything fiddly

Calm the system

  • Breathe slowly with the circle above
  • Make a tea: chamomile, valerian or lemon balm
  • Lie down with a podcast or a long playlist
  • Splash cold water on your face

Reach a person

  • Text a friend, you don't have to say why
  • Tell someone you're riding out a craving
  • Ring a family member for a proper chat

Craving passed? Good. When you've got more than a minute, Cravings & Triggers is the longer read on why they happen and how to rework the routines that set them off. And the whole Quitting toolkit is here whenever you want it.