Emotion

Feelings reflect conscious awareness of emotions stirring within. Like the world's most intricate recipe book, the structure and function of these beautiful minds somehow blend and melt, and then remember, a multitude of conscious, subconscious, and neuro-chemical situational responses. In doing so, they weave an emotional tapestry that rivals the stars.

Yet, if the only emotions remaining were those untouched by nicotine, our mind's unfeeling night sky would be empty and dark.

Joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation.

They are the result of varied genetic factors, early learning/conditioning experiences, and an ever-changing interplay of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and glutamate.[1]

Nicotine dependence contributes to a host of anxiety and mood-related disorders.[2]

Mood scores are lower in users than non-users throughout the day, with delayed and lower peaks, and decreased subjective feelings compared to non-users.[3]

Having long conditioned our brain to expect nicotine's arrival during situations and emotions, behavior patterns developed around use, and emotions became replenishment triggers. Worse yet, nicotine itself became a source of, and added to, our emotional volatility.

While low emotional intelligence was a likely risk factor in many of us getting hooked while young,[5] high emotional intelligence, most importantly emotional repair or the ability to manage our emotions, is highly protective against relapse.[6]

Emotional intelligence is about the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions.

It is also about being able to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

Yet, as we each learned, nicotine is a brain altering and brain damaging drug.

It can alter emotional processing and emotional learning, modify moods, and shape thinking and behavior.[4]

Nicotine not only influenced patterns of emotions, it made us more anxious, depressed, or angry.[2]

But now, with nicotine on the outside, our emotional healing begins.

Is this chapter really about emotional recovery? Or is it about learning the emotional skills needed to stay free? Or is it about both?

Recovery is about regaining emotions. It’s about feeling normal again, without nicotine. It’s about reclaiming yourself.

But along the way, emotional turbulence can happen. That turbulence does not mean you are failing. It means the brain is rebalancing and unlearning.

While this chapter focuses on emotional recovery, we can also use it to strengthen your staying-power.

Why? Because emotional triggers are among the most common paths to relapse.

What if, instead of fearing emotions, you learned to recognize them early, label them accurately, and respond skillfully?

That is emotional intelligence.

As with anger, how many emotions became nicotine replenishment triggers?

Nicotine-free, how calm and mellow would serenity be?

How rich and satisfying would joy be, if unaccompanied by addiction to a nervous system stimulant?

What would sadness feel like if it wasn’t amplified by withdrawal?

What would anxiety feel like without nicotine feeding it?

What would relief feel like, if it came from resolving what you can, accepting what you cannot, and letting time heal the rest?

In the next topic, let's review the natural grief cycle often encountered when ending use.

While doing so, ask yourself, is it possible to enhance our emotional intelligence sufficiently to see beyond a sense of loss, to accelerate return to the normal that existed prior to nicotine-normal becoming normal?