Leaderboard

Congratulations on seven years quit @Sirius and thank you for sticking around and paying it forward. I hope you have a great day!

Here's my beard 2 months now

Thanks Jillar, My only regret is I didn't quit sooner.

Happy Birthday Robbie!. May you stay smoke free and have many more!

Nope!

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

NOPE

So you're saying you have a good twin?

As a twin I can assure you your assumptions are correct!

But, but...I'm Boo. I also drive a Ford. So many questions...Do I have a doppelganger up north? Is he my evil twin? Or maybe he's the good twin, who can tell anymore? Why do I always assume that with twins there is a good one and an evil one? Fire up the Mystery Machine gang, we're going to Ohio!

Good job Sirius. Congratulations.

I'm always a bit suspicious of books and movies that place a heavy emphasis on a character smoking. I smoked tens-of-thousands of cigarettes in my life and nothing of particular interest ever happened while I was getting my fix. If I were to write the story of my life, I don't think any of the times I stood outside and toked on a cigarette would be worthy of a mention.

NOPE!

Happy Birthday Robbie! How truly wonderful and empowering not only for you but others like me here that had a smoke free birthday. I was feeling the shame the other day too that it has taken me till now to quit but I can't change that...can change every day forward though and that is a good place for us to be. I so happy you had a smoke free birthday. Honestly that is the best gift!

Awww man. Locked down again?! That really sucks. You get on here as much as you want to. We are here for you and this week will be over before you know it! I am glad that you got to enjoy your birthday though!

NOPE!

NOPE

NOPE!!!!!!

I'm totally done with smoking! I'm on the patch so no cravings. Currently I'm wearing the 21mg around the clock so it makes me a bit sick. I can't wait to get on a lower dose very soon. I have been shaving off a couple of mm of the 21mg patch in preparation for the 14mg patch I will be on by the end of this week. Nice to be smoke free, all that fresh air feels good! Good luck to all on this journey!

Today I turned 66 and it is the first smoke free birthday I have had for more than 40 years! I feel ashamed writing that last part of the sentence, but I am happy to be smoke free today. I hope this is the first of many smoke free birthdays. I'm off to celebrate! Cheers, Robbie

In our house, the warden & I don't have any real houseplants other that this one lonely African Violet that we've had like forever! I don't even remember when we got it but it's been 20 or 30 years I expect. In our old house this thing would get a couple or three flowers in the summertime and nothing in the winter but it always survived. We moved about 3 years ago and brought 'The Plant'. Stuck it somewhere in the dining room near a window but the direct light conditions are not great there. It hasn't flowered since we moved here. About 2 months ago we were moving some crap around for some reason and the plant ended up on a cabinet near a window in the front room. I noticed it was getting direct sunlight for a couple hours each morning. Well ..... low & behold after about a month, this thing developed a flower, then two , then .............. Here's what it looks like today! I've never seen such a transformation in a plant ever in my life! I think it's trying to tell us it's found it's Happy Place

Really good advice. I am so fortunate to have found this place, for more reasons than the obvious one. A loner, at heart, I am amazed that strangers care so much. I haven’t used the S. O. S. Forum yet, but the particular group of people who have reached out to me, who is still a newbie, makes me feel safe enough to do so, should I need to. Now, you are part of my circle, too, Reynjoe, so stick close! KAT P.S. I know better than to end a sentence with a preposition, but it was the best way I knew to convey that thought.

Welcome aboard ks! lots of good info and support here. Stay close and look forward to kicking the smokes for good. Best wishes.

Congratulations Sirius and thank you for hanging around for all of us newbies. We appreciate you!!!

NOPE!!!!!!

Congrats Sirius! 7 years is big. Following behind you

Kate ... If something in your life is not good for you bin it ... I bet it never went into detail of a smoking related illness ... I'm so happy you thought of me ...and what smoking has done to my life ...that in its self would be a scarey novel .. I agree with all the other peeps ..read something light hearted ... Oh yes a good sexy book ...if you find a good one ...pass it on lol... You have a fantastic quit ...don't let some stupid fiction taken it way ...

My favorite Star! Congrats on 7 Years AMAZING!

Congratulations Sirus and all your support to us newbies

Nope... Not even a thought.

Feeling anxious and down today. I will be glad when the withdrawals from the 7mg patch are done. Pretty intense, but not as bad as the initial quit nor stepping down from the 14mg to 7mg patches. I forgot to weaken my coffee, so I am definitely feeling anxious. I am going to get out of the house for awhile and just hope I don’t end up walking around in public with tears streaming down my face. But this too shall pass. I will persevere. I will not go through this ever again.

Would love to see it !!!!

Early quits mostly such big time emotions! But, this is the timeframe when you develop your coping skills. Whether those be going for a walk, having a shower mid-day just because it distracts you or whatever! Doesn't matter as long as you don't end up listening to your junkie brain telling you to light up. This is the real battle ..... ignoring what your junkie thoughts are telling you to do. Understand that this doesn't last forever. It's part of your journey but in retrospect, it's an instant. A very challenging one but just an instant. Get beyond that and you'll be fine!

Hi @Katgirl!! Welcome and Congrats on your forever QUIT!! Punch those thoughts of smoking to the curb!!

Awesome! This train is the best! Great job Linda just keep saying no!!! This will get easier for you at some point but it might be another month or so. For me it was ups n downs for about 9 months. Then I was pretty much good. If you can resign yourself to the possibility that it will take up to 9 months or a year for it to get easier, that might help. That way you are not disappointed when you're still having rough days even after 4 or 5 months. It takes time...but it WILL get better!

I to have just had my first non smoking birthday on May 20th. It's a great feeling to enjoy my birthday and every new day as a non smoker.

Happy 1st birthday smoke free Robbie! Have a great day!!!

WooHoo! That’s excellent Robbie! We are so proud of you! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

.

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

Thank you, all! Very tired today, hopefully this is temporary!

I know @jillar I was just trying to cheer Robbie up a bit is all. I didn’t want to bury that attempt on a separate thread that she may never see. LOL

Gosh your experience really highlights just what a horrible drug nicotine is Gus. I found that each time I stopped I struggled badly with withdrawal symptoms for about three days while the nicotine was leaving the body, but then I wept a lot for two or three weeks as well. Don't forget the old trick of drinking lots of water to help flush it out of the system. I think this probably helps. It is enough to make you never want to go through this again, and I don't want to either! Hopefully these posts will be something to look back on when we think we are 'safe' and may be tempted to have 'just have one cigarette'. We are in quite extreme lockdown here which is making me weep a bit, it's harder to keep busy and lonely especially in the evenings. Also too much time to think and not enough distractions! We will have to encourage each other to keep on the quit trip through these tough times.

Wow it sure is happy @reciprocity!

Congratulations on 7 years smoke free, Sirius!

Thanks everyone, it was a good day, but I had a few thoughts about buying some cigarettes as in the state where I live we go into lockdown for 7 days starting at midnight. It was very sudden. I guess that cigarettes have always been a source of 'comfort' for me even though they were killing me and all afternoon I was picking up on other people's anxiety about the lockdown. People are panic buying everywhere and stocking up on loads of toilet paper! I don't think this is just an Australian thing, maybe it gives people a sense of control when things seem out of control, I really don't know. Anyway, I totally hate these lockdowns as I'm alone and find it extremely lonely, so I may spend some time on this forum. This week will be another unwanted test for me in my quit journey! Lucky I got to have a good birthday before lockdown starts again...

@Boo I am running around the store looking for our Boo and his precious Maddie and Sugarbritches. Here is a picture of the car and license plate parked next to us.

That crazy. I wonder if she smokes and if she does if she ever tried to quit or did quit. Yeah I would have to stop reading her at least at this point in my quit.