One common phrase used in many drug recovery programs is use of the term, or more accurately the acronym, H.A.L.T.

H.A.L.T. stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired

The way the phrase is generally used is that when a person is having an urge for a drug after having quit, he or she should halt and do a quick assessment to determine if there is some other factors occurring that may be making him or her feel bad. Often, by identifying the actual cause of a bad feeling that may be happening, the person will realize that administering the drug is not going to solve the feeling at hand.

Sometime though, the concept of H.A.L.T. is presented in a way where people are being told that they should not allow themselves to ever become too hungry or angry or lonely or tired. This belief can pose a real threat to a person being able to sustain his or her quit.

The idea that you cannot allow yourself to get too hungry, angry, lonely and tired is an impossibility under certain situations–like at times of natural disasters, famines, times of war, and a host of other conditions that people may find themselves in throughout their lifetimes.

People need to accept that there will be times because of external circumstances that they may become too hungry, angry, lonely or tired. What ex-smokers have to realize is just because they find themselves in one or more of these situations, there is no reason that these feelings are going to automatically put their quits on the line.

Here are a few resources that address this issue:

• Life goes on without smoking
• There is no legitimate reason to relapse
• We understand why you relapsed

Life is going to go on after quitting and there will be times when you may very well find yourself in situations that leave you feeling too hungry, angry, lonely and tired. You should just be aware that none of these times will leave you having to once again feed an active nicotine addiction as long as you remember when under these tough times as well as under all good times that you made and are sticking to a personal commitment to never take another puff.

Joel