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It's official folks. The Celebration Thread Torch is being passed to our wacky lovable quitter Jo It's time that this important thread was under the control of a new generation quitter. Someone who can inject new life and add their own special touch to the daily celebration notices. I know Jo will do a bang-up job so .... go get 'em Jo! Now without further ado, the passing of the Torch

N-O-P-E

Thank you Rec..for all you have done for us ,making sure we have not missed mile stone celebrations.you have earned a rest... Carnt think of a better person to take over...great choice !!! Congrats Jo... Big shoes to fill...lol....such a important role...high five !!!!

Nope.

NOPE... now where's my sun.....?

A bleary eyed, but very emphatic Nope! Not today, today is a very good day, so no reason to ruin it.

Morning fellow NOPErs... today we celebrate Brothers Day .... OH woops, not those brothers, sorry peeps... its the day to celebrate our Brothers.... they may be stinky and smelly but take time today to give ya Bro a shout out and let him know he is loved (unless he is a complete oxygen theif and then you can claim one of the Hemsworths)... Now by some bizarre coincidence it is also Tiara Day.. so not sure if your brother is expected to wear one or you are but rock that bling. To my Bro:... thanks for all the teasing over the years, you were a snot nosed brat who drove me insane and got me into way too many fights with your big smart mouth... but the crays and tuna and abalone and fish you keep me in supply of more than pays up for the annoyance your were as a kid. Luv ya little Bro. So as we celebrate our brothers AND don our tiaras lets us all unite and yell... NOPE ... cos nothing controls my life but me!!! Topic of the Day: The 90's (this ones for our lovely @WeegieWoman)

#NOPE

Thanks Reci for recognizing all the important milestones that mean a lot to so many. I heard Jo’s interview was a little sketchy, but her looks got her over the line

I'd like to start by thanking my sensai Reci for all his expert training. I would like to thank the acedemy for... Oh wait wrong speech... Thanks all for the faith, here's to all the future woohoos, may they be plentiful and in readable English not my usual Strine. ? If any of you mob have a special quit buddy you want to do the woohoo for please feel free, more than happy to share.

well done jo!!

Nope

NOPE from me.

Nope!

Good morning me lovies...welcome to the NOPE hump day... this week in the Land of Aus we are observing Thyroid Awareness Week... so, considering last night I got diagnosed with Graves disease and told I'm living with thyroid nodes this is particularily timely... please make sure you get your thyroid checked cos it is serious shit peeps... the lovely thyroid Aus peeps have a good website for info AND a link to a little question thing to sus if you should be off to the docs to have it checked www.thyroidweek.com ..... Today is also International Turtle Day... cos turtles are nearly as cute as koalas, kangaroos, wombats and bandicoots (I just like saying that one)... so here we have a turtle demonstrating NOPE, that's right little fella, you can't fly. So onthis the 23 day of the 5th month I say.... NOPE not happening, I got too many issues without adding nicotine back into the equation. Topic of the Day: Will remain THE 80's cos someone wasted a whole day playing with stupid numbers.....

NOPE

N.O.P.E.

Nope

@notsmokinjo thyroid is no joke ! I have hypothyroidism,have a thyroid scan today along with blood work . Take care ? nope?

NOPE....

NOPE - I don't smoke anymore.

nope

G'day NOPE for today C

NOPE!

NOPE!

#NOPE

NOPE!!!!

If you havn,t read this book yet...its a must... He has helped millions.... You can download it on the internet ,and read it for free... What have you got to lose.!!!!....nothing.... And could gain freedom !!!

Dinner is over and as I carried my dishes to the kitchen, I was aware of a vague feeling that I'd forgotten something...then I realized that this was the time when I'd head straight outside to the back of a small park on the other side of the walking path in front of my patio for a smoke. Eleven years of habit, piping up to be rewarded with a nicotine hit. I can feel all of those nicotine and dopamine receptors anticipating the usual hit of nicotine. Well...now they are disappointed. I suppose the nicotine receptors are already scaling back, and I'll have to get a dopamine hit from something else. Yesterday after dinner, it was cherry vanilla ice cream. Can't make a habit of that one. Chocolate, I think, for the next one. Just kidding. Ice cream maybe once every week or two. Hagen Das has the handy single-serving size. Container says two servings. Not in my world. OK, didn't want to post SOS because I wasn't going to go get cigarettes. Just passed through this craving--longest and strongest of today--by rambling. Then my son called in the middle of typing. He and is wife are having their first child--a girl--in mid September. She is so very worth keeping the quit so that I can be a part of her life, not as a diseased smoker, but as a healthy, fit grandmother. My quit date is the birthday of my other granddaughter, she is now 5 and we are very close. Craving gone. Going to bed early again in order to prevent any more cravings tonight. Whatever it takes. Going slowly, one day at a time. If you're in a night-now time zone, sweet dreams. For others, wishing you all a joyous, clean, smoke-free day!

NOPE!

G'day NOPE for today C

NOPE!

The thing about going to sleep in early evening to avoid cravings, apparently, is that one wakes up early. As I start this post, it's 3:27 am. Around 3:00, I was having persistent, uninvited, nightmarish thoughts while in a half asleep-half awake state. I couldn't shake them to get back to sleep. My mind must have been on a sort of automatic, because the self-talk that percolated up to my conscious mind was that if I'd give up, get up, make a cup of strong French roast coffee, and take it with me and have a smoke in the fresh air in the small park across the path from my patio---then the bad thoughts would dissipate and I'd feel great again. With that auto-suggestion pleasantly floating in my thoughts for 10 or so seconds, I gradually became more awake. Then a tiny bell dinged and I had to chuckle while I got up to make the coffee. Hellooo-ooooh, I don't smoke! Auto-suggestion voice is silenced and not a happy camper. I have this image of Grumpy in the Disney version of the Snow White story, slouched down, his arms crossed, face in a dark frown. This is so odd, so amusing. It's as though there is another self or entity or personality -- something-- that is grumbling "you're no fun anymore." It feels as though there is a dark spirit I was unaware of, but had been possessing my thoughts totally for the past decade. I thought that was "me," all there was to me. The dark has shrunk a bit and there is a bit of room for someone I could be, a better self. The image that goes with this feeling is that there is a small, thin arc of light in my head where once there was only darkness. It a start. The dark part is very strong and persuasive, and the light could easily be covered again. I've read a number of your (everyone's) posts that reference the nico-demon. I just thought it was a figure of speech associated with a strong craving. I didn't think of it as a separate voice in the psyche (or wherever) that is a tricky sociopath, really, really wants to smoke and is in a fight with another voice or entity (etc) that is struggling to get the upper hand in a fight for life. Well, happy to say, that in this brief round between nicodemon and better self, it is nicodemon, 0; better self, 1. I'm sounding cavalier, but really, I'm sober, serious, vigilant and patient. This is just the start of what has to be a lifelong commitment, made one day at a time. I haven't been good at keeping commitments. Terrible, really. Terrible. So disappointing and frustrating. I don't want to live like that, don't want to be that person. I know that one doesn't overcome nicotine withdrawal in one fight. The posts I've read make clear that cravings are likely to get even stronger and interfere with thinking clearly. I have to stay present and mindful of the thoughts in my mind--"does this thought originate from addiction?" Given my history, I have to be very careful around anything that could be a trigger and make me upset. My constant companion in the past few days is Abraham Twerski's book, "Addictive Thinking." When I've felt a craving, I get out the book and read a few paragraphs until the craving passes. Gotta go to work. Have a great day y'all.

Thanks, reciprocity, for managing the very important Celebrations thread. Congratulations jo!

Since I don't do social media I had never been a part of a support group before quitting. So when I quit I would Google the recovery symptoms I was going thru and it would always lead me to my message board. I lurked there for almost three weeks reading before I got the nerve to join from someone who was posting an SOS. I can say without a doubt that the online support is what kept me quit. Just like others above, I couldn't bear to have to tell these great people that I had failed. So I NOPED daily, read, supported, celebrated and socialized for the whole year that I had pledged for. Now I stay in hopes of paying it forward like so many had done for me

NOPE

Nope!

It has been a while since I came last but still, nope everyday, even on thursdays!

NOPE!!!

NOPE .... Definitely not a joke... Best wishes for a good scan and healthy bloods today...

I think Doreen knows better than anyone on this board about why it is good to keep the quit. Just make sure you really fight like hell if you have to to NOT smoke. We have plenty of people come and go, I think a lot of them make it to about the third week then relapse. Do not be one of them. If you DO have to replace with a different bad habit, I recommend soda. My poison is Pepsi. The other day me and my room mate went to the grocery and get this - with all the cans and bottles, we had over 100 pounds of soda in the house... But yeah there is like this stigma that smokers have to deal with. Once we quit smoking and STAY quit, we don;t have to go to some designated "cancer up" area roughly 100 miles away, people do not talk crap about how we are killing ourselves, etc... Tell tobacco to go to hell. It has NO place in your life. Oh yeah, the "nicobitch" (as nonsmokingjo calls it) is going to fuss, scream, yell, bitch, fight, pout, and beg for you to feed it some more nicotine. But, like a child throwing a tantrum, it eventually gives up and one day you notice it "politely asks" for nicotine and you tell it "no" and it goes away again for the day

Thank you Reci and Jo. Such an important motivator along the way.

Thanks Reciprocity for playing such an important role. It is greatly appreciated. Congratulations Jo.

Hmmmm....NODE....well done..one day at a at time...stale or not..your fighting it..I'm proud of you... I still havnt got my sausages under control whaha....

Thank you slippy, I have a stale one sitting here, the last one I bought and didn't eat... It's not went mouldy yet, due to the amount of sugar in it I would presume!

Yesterday sucked... big fat donkey balls of suckage.... Yesterday I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease.... and I have nodes, that's right I am living with nodes.... but unlike big red in Pitch Perfect my nodes aren't on my vocal chords, mine are on my Thyroid Gland and one is on my Parathyroid Gland... but wait yesterday was so fricking good for so many reasons.... Some of you may know that I have been having some medical tests that involved me being on the worst diet on earth, the low iodine diet... what most of you wont know is that I took myself off to the doctors (after the repeated nagging of some fellow members here. Thanks @Sslip, @beazel & @jillar) because I was have issues with my heart and dizzy spells... they nagged me over there and they nagged me over here and coupled with some other symptoms I was having I had already diagnosed myself as being in menopause (nope, which I am quietly spewing about) and possibly having some form of heart disease, most likely due to my weight and smoking... so I didn't want to go to the doctor, I wanted to plop my big fat arse down on my nice comfy barge and live on that river in Egypt, you know Da Nile. Anyway, nag nag nag and off I went... took some blood tests, got a phone call Good Friday and its been appointments and blood tests and crappy diets ever since... ok and a break down or two with the treat of tossing my quit over amongst other things not being allowed to have Vegemite (thanks to both @Sslip & @Sazerac for the saves there)... then there was the plan to go back on the gum if I needed to to get em through it.... you get the idea, I was preparing myself to use it as a get out of quit guilt free card. Well yesterday I got my results. I have Graves disease and nodes, which are little lumpy things, that are usually benign, but 2 of mine have grown since the first scan on Good Friday.. which isn't necessarily bad either, they might turn into a goiter OR they might do nothing or there is the teeniest, tiniest chance they might be something a little bit nastier, but even if they are its not a worry... cos they are easy peasy to fix. Anyway... Graves Disease is totally treatable, and totally curable... the quick easy fix, which is what my doctor wants to do is to remove the thyroid gland and in my case one of the parathyroid glands and then have this special iodised radiation treatment. The hard way is to take the tablet, alter your diet (not as bad as the no iodine diet) and ride it out for 18mths to 2 years. I don't want the easy way's, side effects and possible complications or secondaries are pretty intense. I want to do the hard way... so My appointment included a yelling match between my doctor and I where I was informed I'm not fun to treat anymore... but we came to a compromise.. I would let him biopsy the nodes and he would let me try just the meds and the diet for 3 months and then we would review it.... So here is why yesterday was good: 1. I got a diagnosis 2. Its treatable and curable 3. I never would have gone to get it checked if I hadn't quit smoking, as I would have put it down to smoking and age and the like. 4. I never would have gone to the docs without the nagging of my mates, who I never woulda had if I hadn't quit smoking. 5. I didn't use it to excuse tossing my quit. 6 Despite one of the biggest symptoms of Graves being anxiety and panic attacks (which I have been suffering with pretty badly) have I NOT tossed my quit. 7. Not once, all day, before, during or after my appointment did I want, crave or even have a fleeting thought of having a smoke. NOT ONCE. So to everyone who supported me in the healthy wealthy threads with my whinging and whining about my diet... weather it was positive words, or food suggestions or even just clicking little emotions thanks for making the past 6 weeks bearable and having my back, Saz, Slippidy-doo-dah, Jilly, @WeegieWoman, @Doreensfree, @Joe7 & @Frezflops thanks. Oh and @Wee fluffy me & @PeaceTrain you guys been in on the support too. If I missed ya sorry. But this is Good. We have a plan, its frickin totally treatable, and the Nicodemon b1tch didn't even raise her ugly mug. And my unexpected QUIT benefit... I went to the doctors and found out I have something pretty serious wrong but I never would have gone to the doctors if I hadn't QUIT and I'd be ignoring all my bodies "hey dipshit somethings really not right here loveducks" signs and you know what it can do, having a thyroid flooding your body with ridiculous levels of thyroxin... it can make you dead, it can kill ya heart, it can hurt ya liver, you can have a stroke... what awesome, lovely side effects. I love my new life.

Great positive post Kate..most of us here ..missed that after meal cig too..just keep busy ..chew regular gum.. Grandkiddies are so very special...no stinky hugs of Nana....so worth it...I will give you food for thought.!!! Our grandkiddies have never been able to play much with grandad...he has emphysema.... On and off oxygen.... Can only go out by wheelchair..... The small uncomfortable time it takes to quit....is far better than a smoking rested illness....keep marchin..

If it's the doughnuts you're trying to avoid then best steer clear. One battle at a time. Glad you're not obsessing over the amount of time without a doughnut. Proud of you ?.

Kate, congratulations on the family news, that is awesome. Love the way you are doing this and the bit of fun in your post. I'd stick with the cherry and vanilla if I were you though, a far better flavour. I'm a grandad to 3 and we get sleep overs at our place. I can tell you that we have so much more fun than ever before since I gave up. No itching for time away so I can have a smoke. No worries about the smell when I give those great big joyous hugs. No compromise at all on our time. You are making smart choices, carry on posting lots, carry on getting the extra sleep, carry on with little treats. We are here ready to support whenever you need.

I am so glad, bebe. I couldn't feel more relieved. You are a star ! and thank you for your huge contributions here, we love you so much. s