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Day number 27, still good. Cravings are just as bad as day 1, but I am grinding my way past them. Nasty stuff still coming out of my lungs (eww). Wish me luck, my trailer broke a leaf spring yesterday, so I get to sell my route out of a van today. yay
Hey, cogratulations on sticking it out. Like others have said, it just takes time. I quite cold turkey 11 years ago. I finished my last pack (it is a mental game, my hang up was I could not throw a ciggarette / pack away, had to finish it) and said thats it. I worked at night in a plant at the time, mostly by myself. So every time I wanted a ciggarette I would do 25 push ups or sit ups. After about 3 days the urge to smoke was replaced with "oh no, not more sit ups...."
Yes, your gonna hack for a while. That will get better with time.
I have to admit, from time to time I do still get the urge. Not as bad as 11 years ago. I am not sure what triggers it as I can be around smokers at my current job and not want one or even think about it. It seems pretty random.
Being in bars does make it harder. It sucked to be playing a gig and be surrounded by that cloud. But time (and less time in the bar) makes it easier. But I am enjoying a nice bottle of Chimay Trappist Ale as I type and not having any desire for a ciggarette.
The one thing I promised myself when I stopped was I would never be one of "those" ex smokers. You know, the holier than thou types than b+~~+ and moan whenever confronted by a lit ciggarette. I hated them when I smoked and promised I would never become one myself. I won't judge another for choosing to smoke. Any more than I will judge myself for stopping. Again, it's mental.
Good luck, you can succeed.
Tom
Keep up the good work Scott!
Keep up the good work Scott!
Seconded. Being a straightlacer myself I can't offer any anecdotes or supportive stories, but I can offer my congratulations and well-wishes.
Best of luck man, you're doing yourself a world of good.
If your seriously determined and made your mind up to quit smoking; or any other addiction, I seriously suggest you find a therapist trained in hypnotherapy; as in hypnosis. My girlfriend does this and is very successful in assisting clients in breaking addictions; she has like 30 years experience. Try to find someone in your city like that who is a trained therapist with hypnotherapy training and various other techniques; my girlfriend employs several.
With the way healthcare is now; it is often difficult to get healthcare to support it as it is hard for many therapists to get into some healthcare networks for a variety of reasons, but if you can afford it; definately do it as it will maximize your chances and help you break your addictions.
you can do it once you make up your mind to do so, just remember; you dont have to go it alone and a great coach/trainer/therapist with DR. in front of there name can make a big big difference.
Congrats on the long haul! It only gets easier. For me, that first month is the hardest.
Keep it up!
I hope it's going well. Even if you slip you're still winning the fight!
Are you winning?
Are you winning?
Sadly, no. I have had several epic fails over the last weeks, I fell of the horse and was dragged under it for several miles in a cactus infected valley full of very sharp stones. However, I have righted myself, wrapped my hurt and remounted the horse. This is day number 5.
Sorry to not reply to your earlier post on the 31st, things have been very hard of late and this is the first that I have had time to do anything exept run and scream. Yay the joys of being a salesman!!I will try to keep up as best as able, but we are going into peak selling season so 12-14 hour days will be the norm for now and I will be one tired worn out person!
Thanks for checking in on me!!
Are you winning?Sadly, no. I have had several epic fails over the last weeks, I fell of the horse and was dragged under it for several miles in a cactus infected valley full of very sharp stones. However, I have righted myself, wrapped my hurt and remounted the horse. This is day number 5.
Sorry to not reply to your earlier post on the 31st, things have been very hard of late and this is the first that I have had time to do anything exept run and scream. Yay the joys of being a salesman!!
I will try to keep up as best as able, but we are going into peak selling season so 12-14 hour days will be the norm for now and I will be one tired worn out person!
Thanks for checking in on me!!
It's all part of the process some times. Most folks fall off the horse a few times in my experience, so don't beat the crap out of yourself for it.
Good luck!
I will try to keep up as best as able, but we are going into peak selling season so 12-14 hour days will be the norm for now and I will be one tired worn out person!
Thanks for checking in on me!!
My most successful quitting times are when I'm most stressed. If you can last a day now, it means you can last a day anytime. It'll try to sneak in when you're stressed and tired, but just give in to your laziness and don't buy or bum. Above all, don't think because you've cheated, it means you failed.
Another thing that helped is to remember how awful that first day not puffing feels, and then ask: do I want to do that again? Better to keep off of it. You'll feel better and smell better.
I'm not sure if anybody (including myself) have suggested this in this way, but try behavior replacement. Basically, change what you do when you smoke, and replace what you do when you want to smoke with another rewarding behavior. Gum and candy are one method. For me, I did deep meditation breathing...it helped remind me that my lungs were cleaning themselves.
Keep it up! You can do it!
I had to quit drinking to quit smoking. Your resistance goes down when you are drinking and then place yourself into contact with other smokers and I can guarantee epic fail. Staying away from other smokers is a big plus too, although it's difficult sometimes.
Keeping yourself so busy that you have no time to think about smoking helped me as well. When you don't have time to think about that urge for a smoke, eventually it fades away. I maintained this while working on a ship, working as much as possible then hitting the gym right after work. The biggest urge I had for smoking during the day was when I was lying in bed reading and had time to think about how good a smoke would feel. Instead I drank a glass of water for a substitute. It ain't friggin easy quitting, but putting it out of your mind is the hardest part.
I have quit for 5 months now, and still have overwhelming urges to light one up every now and again. But thinking about lying in a hospital bed, dying of lung cancer, struggling for every breath and knowing a painful end is on it's way is motive enough to stay away. Anybody seeing a relative or close friend in that kind of situation is a huge mental deterrent from smoking. It's enough of a shock to realize how good you have it and why would you knowingly put yourself in that situation.
Then I woke up and tore the patch off:)
When I wore the patch, I didn't really dream so much as sleep in super-fast forward. I'd lay down, and images and light would pulse in my eyes, like those super-fast montages of random things mixed with a rapid strobe light. Thankfully, not creepy things, but just...things, those some of the mixes were disturbing.
I too, tore the patch off.
Cthulu, eh? I'd be more worried about the spider people.
How goes the war?
How goes the war?
Super rough. Nasty bad. Hard as -ell. I some times think there is a plot to make my life as hard as possible when I try to quit. Oh well, we game on sunday so that is great!
I'll say one thing for the patch and one thing only: the crazy dreams I had anytime I fell asleep wearing one, while tiring, were worth it. I saw Cthulhu, sort of. I was about six inches tall, hiding in a sewer pipe from the spider people (like ya do). I turned around and there he was, or at least a translucent version of him, plastered against the wall of the pipe and looming over me. The only color to him was his one visible eye, which was cat-like and a sickly green in color. The tentacles were slowly inching their way along the wall toward me.
I don't smoke but this is almost enough to persuade me to try the patch anyway....
How goes the war?Super rough. Nasty bad. Hard as -ell. I some times think there is a plot to make my life as hard as possible when I try to quit. Oh well, we game on sunday so that is great!
Murphy is alive and well. Hang in there!
Back in the saddle, 7 days.
Back in the saddle, 7 days.
Good man!
Hello Scott.
I quit a thirty a day habit seven years ago. I have not wanted a cigarette for the last five years of that time. No cravings. The smell of smoke disgusts me.
How I quit:
I was on a beach on Kho Phan Ngan island, Thailand. I had just had a massage on the beach. My girlfriend and I were happy. The sunrise was superb. The sea was crystal and coral and perfect. I was watching a monitor lizard walk very close to me. Everything was ideal, except I was out of smokes. I felt s@+&ty. I suddenly got white hot anger flooding through my system. HOW DARE THE CIGARETTE RULE ME?
I thought back to all of the times I had let cigarettes win, and I felt a pure and livid rage fill me completely.
These things are not a treat. They are a threat.
They are not a luxury, they are a leash.
They are not a friend. They are not tasty. They want you dead.
Cigarettes are the leading cause of death in many parts of the world.
They have already killed you earlier.
I stopped smoking, cold turkey, and developed a deep hatred for tobacco.
I stopped heeding the claims of advertising and culture that make that poisonous, wretched, stinking, vile and loathsome plant acceptable, while it steals breath, ruins lives, takes fathers and mothers and daughters and sons, kills union leaders, engineers coups, optimises addiction levels, and lies to you.
Hate them.
Don't touch them again.
Every year, on valentines day, the day I quit, I get a chest x-ray. For the last five years, my lungs have been clean. The first two years, there was a dour specter sharing my ribcage, growing in my core like some chill fog stealing days from my lifespan.
F~~+ cigarettes. You don't need them. Don't want them.
Just don't ever smoke again.
Day eight. Thanks for the tips, stories, etc everyone!
Day eight. Thanks for the tips, stories, etc everyone!
Woot!
Day eight. Thanks for the tips, stories, etc everyone!
Happy fathers day.
Day eight. Thanks for the tips, stories, etc everyone!Happy fathers day.
Thank you!, day 22 still good!
Thank you!, day 22 still good!Day eight. Thanks for the tips, stories, etc everyone!Happy fathers day.
Awesome!
I don't know what advice can really help so I'll just say what worked for me. I am on my 2nd real attempt to quit and haven't had a puff since spring of 08. Previously I had quit for 3 once before but fell back into it. I smoked for about 16 years.
- COLD TURKEY- only way to do it, you have quit until you've quit
- I kept some cigarettes near me. Only a couple in a cupboard. I'd panic more when I no access to them. This helped me but I can see how it could be really bad for other people. After a couple months I ditched them.
- Find a good reason to help motivate you (used my children) and even if you stumble, don't use it as a reason to just jump back into the habit.
- Step away sometimes- I found that without my regular smoke breaks I was lacking my constant trips to the outdoors to just sit and reflect. So wether it's sitting outside for a couple minutes alone a day or anything else that helps, find time to just step away. I didn't realize how important that little bit of time away I had to smoke actually was.
Good luck with this. It's a nightmare at times and was really a lot harder than I ever expected. The worst thing for me was this perceived lack of freedom, the idea that because I couldn't smoke I couldn't do whatever I wanted and that drove me nuts. Finally once it became a choice in my mind to stop instead of me thinking I was forced not to smoke, things got a lot easier.
Oh yeah...watch what you eat afterwards...not as easy to keep that gut away without those cigarettes.
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How many days on the patch?
It got me off a 6-year heavy smoking habit. Problem is I got hooked on the patch, wore it for like 3 weeks past the date.
My great-uncle took medicine, and after about 60 years he quit. When my mom tried it (and the patch, and gum), she couldn't. Over the years, however, she has gotten down to less than a pack per day.
No real advice, been trying to get my Dad to quit for the past 20 years, unsuccessfully. But you have all the well wishes I can give in your endeavor.
I've not yet smoked because of how prone my family is to addiction. And societal conditioning tells me one smoke could get me hooked.
According to the AHA,You can do it brother.
Incidentally I quit a pretty bad coke and crack habit WAY back and that was easier than quitting smoking.
Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Anyway, good luck.
still clean, patches giving me the strangest dreams. My attemt this time involves vastly last stress from last year. Gnawing on dum-dums(thanks Fake Healer!), straws, etc helps a lot. Must get this done, in August, all hell will break loose!
I tried the patch once, and it didn't work. Well, it did, I guess, physically, but I still wanted to smoke all the time and gave in. I can resist everything but temptation!
But it did give me the awesomest dreams! In one, I was a werewolf who needed the help of the team from Angel to get some artifact from Sunnydale to cure my lycanthropy. Buffy and the Scoobies, however, were trying to stop me. I went toe-to-toe with Buffy!
That probably doesn't help, but I felt like sharing.
Still good. Still feel normal, made it past the 4th of july madness! Haven't killed any one yet!
I had a party last weekend, and damn near caved after 4 or 5 years. Luckily my buddy wouldn't have it, and I returned to sanity.
Stay disciplined!
Still good. Still feel normal, made it past the 4th of july madness! Haven't killed any one yet!
Good man!
The thread's title says that stories are welcome. Does that include fictitious stories?
I just wonder whether anyone found "Ramona and Her Father" by Beverly Cleary inspirational. (Not being a smoker myself, I wouldn't know.)
The thread's title says that stories are welcome. Does that include fictitious stories?
I just wonder whether anyone found "Ramona and Her Father" by Beverly Cleary inspirational. (Not being a smoker myself, I wouldn't know.)
Hee hee!
I remember that. And he turns all her arguments against her re: cleaning her room! "Miss Radar-feet" or something like that.
How's it going?
How's it going?
not snubbing ya, moved, yadda yadda, panic, mayhem etc.
How's it going?not snubbing ya, moved, yadda yadda, panic, mayhem etc.
Out standing!
Out standing!How's it going?not snubbing ya, moved, yadda yadda, panic, mayhem etc.
+1
F%@#! I want to smoke!
This too shall pass.
I've beat worse than this.