Leaderboard

Congratulations @Dianne on your first month smoke free! What an awesome achievement, you should be so proud of yourself. I hope you treat yourself special today because you've earned it!

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required)

Thank you!

WooHoo @Dianne!! Way to go!! Congrats on one month smoke free!!!

NOPE

So, 8 days! I keep thinking it should be harder than this. I won’t say I don’t miss it. But, I just think of my heart when I get the urge to light up. And I like that saying about not putting something in your mouth and setting it on fire. That resonated with me. Who, in their right mind, would do such a thing?! LOL. Turning 70 was a wake up call. I don’t want to be “the old lady who still smokes.” My kids will be happy! 3 out of 4 know. Next time I talk to my oldest, I will tell him. They would all like to see me stick around for awhile longer. I think turning 70 has really messed with my head, and made me think a lot about how little time I may have left. Between my Birthday and my recent battery of heart tests, I got scared. I guess if it led me to put down the cigarettes, that’s not such a bad thing….. Kat

I agree with Jill ....... GO FOR IT!!!! No time is ever better!

Doesn’t take long to pick a date. As Nike likes to say, “Just Do It!” I did not pick a date. I just decided last Monday evening, “this is my last cigarette…….EVER!” Maybe that will work better for you, too…

Congratulations Dianne! You are doing great!

NOPE

NOPE, not today!

Thank you Katgirl! Not going to lie I was scared too. You in a good place to be for quitting there a number of us here within those first days, weeks months and year. I take great courage from them.... their journey and all the longer quitters here who offer their experience and wisdom. Like you I made and am making small changes to my choices for my health (Rome was not built in a day) Those choices and changes really are paying off and helping. My blood pressure the last few days has stayed consistently within the ideal range (I am super stoked about that) to all those here who fight anxiety, depression and who got on the quit train ....who fight and fought your way through....I have such mad respect for you....truly warriors one and all. This is not easy and it is down right hard and scary at times. How great there is a place like this where we can draw courage from one another and just say out loud when we struggling that we are struggling.

Dianne, So glad to see how well you are doing. The day I joined, yours was the first post I read, and I was genuinely scared for you. Like you, I have been taking several walks around the ranch each day. We are on 16 acres, so I don’t even have to leave the property to have a nice long walk. I am trying to eat healthier, too. Maybe not healthier, but less, and less junk food. I am trying to preemptively avoid weight gain. Quitting cigarettes has given me more energy, though it may just be nervous energy, but I will take it. Like you, anxiety has been a problem, but one I have always dealt with, though it’s worse than normal, right now. I am hopeful I will get back to my normal anxious self. Keep up the good work. You inspire me. Kat

Stranger danger, and they don’t get much stranger than a fat guy with a long white beard, in a bright red furry suit!

Welcome aboard! Great decision and this is the right place for support. I was 66 when I finally had enough. You can make it happen and don`t think that "well I`ve smoked for so long that it doesn`t matter now". That is not true. You will feel so much better physically and mentally. Your self esteem will be a great reward. This site is loaded with the right people with the know how to get the job done. It will not be as hard as you think. Read the support tools on site and get your mind right to win the fight. Hope to see you around. Best wishes.

So thankful you found what works for you. The main thing is for us to get our quits out there for future quitters to peruse. The personal stories, comments, and tidbits of advice are what got me through those horrible first weeks.

I still have 19 cigarettes left in the last pack I bought. I did not toss them. Years ago, I read somewhere, that if you don’t have them available, you will experience more panic. So I put them up. It made sense to me. Perhaps, it’s my personality. I know that when I smoked the last cigarette, in the pack, late in the evening, I would tell myself, “I can wait until morning to go buy a pack.” But then I would get anxious about not having any, so I would jump in my car and go out to buy a pack. Knowing that I have a pack on hand, keeps me more calm around quitting. I know most of you may think it’s foolish, but it works for me. It’s my security blanket. I CHOOSE not to light one up, rather than I can’t because I don’t have any.

-20 Chicks win!

Jill is right. I just up and decided that I was done smoking when I came to the last cigarette in the only pack I had in my possession. Immediately tossed ashtrays and lighters. Done is done. I would still be smoking if I was smoking towards an ideal quit time.

Rey, I think you and I and everyone knows that picking a date never works. The lead up to it is torture! I found myself chain smoking leading up to it and if I still had cigarettes left than it was put off again and again. I quit like @Katgirl did, I just decided on Memorial day weekend in 2016 that instead of going to buy another pack that that would be that. And so it was. You're here now surrounded by fellow quitters to support and guide you to your forever quit so why not just take that leap of faith?!

Congratulations Diane you are doing great!!!

No time like Now to have a better healthy life .... Why put more Nicotine in ..just to take it out again ... Don't leave it too long ....like I did ....I was facing having my feet amputated... It's not always the lungs that suffer ...

Still thinking of a quit date at this point. Soon...very, very soon.

NOPE...

Congratulations on one month, Dianne.

Welcome Reynjoe glad you joined and found us.

Hey, Matt, as you know, there is no one size fits all approach. For me, who is doing this for the second time, cutting down first worked. I am a super logical thinker. I took a page from the people who use nicotine patches. They work by wearing a certain strength for a period of time, then gradually decreasing, until you need no patch. So I gradually weaned myself from cigarettes. When I got down to 7 a day, I stalled and kept smoking 7 a day, telling myself, ”I am a light smoker. This is fine.” Then there were days I would inch back up to 8 or 9. In the end, it was my Cardiologist and my boyfriend who convinced me. My cardiologist said it was the very best thing I could do for my heart. My boyfriend said he wants as many years with me as possible. So, in both cases, my heart was the reason I quit. So, down to 7-10 cigs a day, I smoked one at 8:00 PM a week ago Monday, and told myself, “this is the last one!” So far, it has been. Finding this group has been a bonus. Kat

Huge Congratulations..... Your first month done and dusted ....your doing great ... Keep Going ....

I'm thinking.... Nope!!!!

NOPE!

Woot woot! Congrats Gus!

Why is it that every kid that has ever had their picture taken with Santa has that 'deer in the headlights' look on their face? What the hell was really going on during those 'Santa visits'? No wonder I'm traumatized

^^This^^

Welcome Reynjoe. It is never to late to quit and it is definitely doable. Make this forum your new addiction. There is plenty of information, games and friendship here. I tried many different clinical ways to quit and was not successful until I landed here. This is your time to be enjoying life. Why not find freedom from this awful addiction. You can do it!

NOPE!

NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome aboard, @Reynjoe I made several attempts to quit smoking. What finally helped me was joining and participating in an online quit smoking forum like this one. The knowledge and support you can get here can help you quit for good. It may seem intimidating at first but quitting smoking is a great thing to do and is worth any early struggles you may have. Stick around. You can do this.

NOPE!

NOPE

Hi-- I was ultimately able to quit, at 33, by situating smoking cessation in a broader enterprise of developing new sets of healthy habits and activities. I very consciously and actively attempted to cultivate a new persona: my thinking was that these activities (working out, eating/cooking differently) would give me positive things on which to focus instead of the thing I was seemingly denying myself. Moreover, this new persona might serve as a final line of defense during inevitable moments of vulnerability early on in the quit. Fortunately, this strategy worked for me. But the initial stretch was still extraordinarily difficult. Regarding the writing and intellectual work more generally, my experience was that quitting absolutely did affect my abilities in these areas. Perhaps that won't happen in your case (and it certainly doesn't with everyone), but it did with me. But I came to understand that I probably needed a recalibration of my relationship to my academic work and different writing processes if I were to have a healthy and satisfying professional life; thus, the struggles were actually illuminating and transformative. It doesn't mean they were easy or quick. But, in retrospect, things got better when I realized that I would remain quit even if things never got any better. This can be done, and it's the single most important thing you can do for your health and your spirit. Christian99 About 19 1/2 Years Quit

Thank you for the warm welcome and words of encouragement. I have a lot of exciting milestones ahead. My 13th grandchild is on the way, and I plan to fly to Japan to meet him, or her. I plan to fly to Philly in July to see another grandson, born during COVID, whom I have yet to meet. In December I will fly to Dallas, to spend Christmas with my only daughter, and 7 of my grandchildren. Best of all, I will have a travel buddy, my wonderful boyfriend, John, for all of these adventures. So, lots of good things coming up. Life is good, and even better without cigarettes…..

Congratulations Dianne, this is how you should react after every month smoke free

Sweet! 1st month done is the best!!! Carry on to freedom.

Congrats, @Dianne! Hardest month down....celebrate your achievement and KTQ!

Thank God for NRT. With my anxiety disorder it has been just what I needed to keep from having to check myself in somewhere. I have one week left of the step 3 and I will be off of that. I honestly feel like I could do it now, but I’ve already paid for them and well I hate to waste anything. LOL

Congratulations Dianne! You have made it through the toughest time. Stay strong and safe. Hang in there. Best wishes.

I spent my career taking care of dying Cancer patients. Ironically, it did not make me sad. I felt honored to care for folks at the end of their lives. I made it a point to treat them as vital living beings. I liked to make them laugh, if I could. Death is the end for us all, and , as I inch closer to my own, I am keenly aware of how fleeting life is. It is why I quit smoking. I want as much time as I can get with my new love, and with my growing brood of grandchildren. Lucky number 13 is in the pipeline….

Nope..no freaking way

I feel that it is so very important that anyone contemplating a quit or recently quit knows that it isn’t easy. That it is hard. Extremely hard. It is ugly. So very ugly. Seeing yourself as someone you never thought you’d become. An addict. But the addiction can be overcome. So many have done just that. It takes work and every quit is different. Every path to success is different.