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

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Tuesday morning, day 3. Got a long day ahead of me and I think I need to be in time with self care. 🩹 Things to do, when a crave hits me: * take a walk around the building * find a quiet place somewhere and take five deep breaths * try to realize that this crave changes nothing about your longing to be free from nicotine * Take the leap and trust in the simple passing of time! * drink cold water or tea Pfiew. Let’s do this.

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*** N O P E ***

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Nope No way. the only way I will see or smell smoke is in the fireplace, having barbeque or if the house catches fire!

I love this. I can make my pledge a good twelve hours in advance! Thank you.

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Well finally My Friday, it really should be my Saturday, but the extra day I have to work makes my Saturday my Friday even though it is really Tuesday. Monday is My Fri, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday are my Saturday and Sunday plus one. The Plus one is really cool get an extra day and lose a working day that way I have 3 days to play, and it still adds up to 7 very cool. Well any way I will be off tomorrow and it is a good thing, not sure what I am going to do, but I do know what I am not going to do, I am not going to smoke. Well I may smoke a Ham or a Turkey My new favorite

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One of the greatest gifts the process of quitting gave me was the opportunity to practice detachment on a daily basis. I started thinking about this earlier today after hearing Jocko Willink talk about detachment on a podcast. In fact, the moment I figured out how to separate myself from whatever emotions and thoughts I was having in the moment was the turning point in my quit. It was a struggle before I figured it out. After I figured it out, it has been nothing but smooth sailing. The cravings didn't magically go away when I turned the corner. The odd thought about "the good ol' days when I was a smoker" still popped up from time-to-time. The basic tenets of addiction were still there, I just changed how I reacted. Instead of surrendering to the chaos and allowing the emotional upheaval to dictate my actions, I just took a step back and observed what was really going on. Identified my thoughts as nothing more than a temporary feeling born of decades of addiction. Detaching yourself from the self-defeating thoughts and emotions of addiction allows you to observe what's really going on and make wise decisions. The cigarette is an inanimate object. You are not a smoker. You are someone who used to smoke. Your thoughts have as much or as little power as you give them.

congratulations BKP on 6 years quit. I bet your hiking is much easier these days! keep on hiking 😊

I'm happy to say at the time of writing this ...I'm in full control....until... I hear that funny joke I run too long I drink too much I cough too much It's cold out .... Ect ....😁

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required scribbly bark gum tree

Hi @Kris, thanks for your honest reply and I’m sorry you were worrying last night. I truly hope you can find a way to strengthen your resolve because of this. You are still in your first year and I remember well how scary it was back then to see people give up there quit, especially those who had quite some time under their belt. Please know - it’s been a matter of neglecting myself. I gradually got complacent, allowed some junkie thinking patterns back in. And then, when one thing after another happened, I gave in. It was preventable! Ugh. You are right - I did well in my quit. Untill I didn’t. I try to see these as two seperate things: the well-doing doesn’t change because of the relapse and the relapse is a relapse, no matter how ‘well’ I did. I hope your next night will be a bit less worrisome 😊

Congratulations BKP, this truly is an inspirational quit. Thanks for helping pave the way for the rest of us. Mad Respect to you

So here I am setting pretty victorious at my desk, My Manager can force me to answer my phone any time I am off of work. He was not happy about that, and now he has to write a retraction on a Email letter of warning he wrote to me. My crew and I raised enough unrest that we all are getting paid for the holiday. another OOOOPs moment for the management.

Yay for you, buddy! You can't count to six on one hand so that's a lot of non-smoking years. I hope all is well with you and you're out enjoying the smoke free life.

Congratulations on 6!! 😎

Hearty congratulations on the 6 year mark. Best wishes.

Congrats, @NADA aka BKP! Celebrate your achievement and KTQ! 😷🎉

Inspiration for us newbies! Thank you. And hope everyone is having a great day.

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I always put on a bit of weight around the holidays. Rather than fight it this year, I'm just going to lean into it. Figure if I'm going to bulk a bit might as well start a powerlifting program. I'm going with a four day split, alternating volume and intensity. Monday: Deadlifts (1x5), Highboy Rows (3x5), Romanian Deadlifts (3x5) Tuesday: Squat (1x5), Bench Press (3x5), Overhead Press (3x5) Thursday: Deadlifts (3x5), Highboy Rows (2x5), Romanian Deadlifts (2x5) Friday: Squat (3x5), Bench Press (1x5), Overhead Press (1x5) It might look like overeating, but I'm calling it "bulking."

Stay strong ML.... Youv,e got this ....go back to basics ...Read and pledge ...👍

Jillar, I have been spending a lot of my time looking back at my life. I suffered anxiety from a very young age. My Dad died when I was 3 years old. I do not have any memories of him. I do feel that something happened that scarred me for life. There had to something that caused my panic attacks. Back then in the 1960s I don't think doctors had a clue. They did not know what was happening or how to help me. So we went along, me doing the best I could with this terrible fear of everything. I still have this happen once in awhile. that feeling where you can't breathe, you get hot all over, you are dizzy, and need to throw up. I went through therapy before my son was born, I did not want my child to go through this. i did want them to see me struggle with normal life. I was successful, he had a normal life, a normal Mom, Some of it was hard for me but I was able to hide it from him. I must admit that I am tired, i have no strength left to deal with my anxiety. At this point I am okay with it. I am happy, calm and peaceful. It is such a great relief to let these things go and look to the future. d

I must say I worried myself sick last night about you. I knew you had done well in your quit and had a slip. I did not want to believe it happened. If it could happen to you, it could happen to me. It freaked me out. I do not have the resolve or strength to go through this again. If I relapse I will smoke until I die. I do not want that and I know you do not want it either. We are all going to die but I want to be peaceful in my own bed with my pups beside me. We deserve the best of all things but the truth is we have to get those things for ourselves, there is not an easy way. We have to keep doing our best in all things. It is okay for us to throw a fit, to have a good cry when needed. Just do not smoke, come here for help!!

Yep Doreen, sometimes we just can't wait! I have not had the so called 'accident" in public but arrived home only to wet my pants. I have really learned to listen to my body. You may think you are okay but your body can turn on you. It will sneak up on you, just like the nicotine monster. We all have to be vigilant, I will say I would prefer to wet my pants over lighting up!

Carn,t wait lol...

Awesome job, BKP, aka @NADA. I hope all is well and you come back soon. You've helped many in your journey to nonsmoking success. Great job and much respect from me.

I do not feel well right now and must go to bed. I have tried to reach out for help for MLMR She has restarted a quit and needs us to help. Please let her know that we are here and we care about her.

I have been sticking to my routine of two 2 mile power walks per day. My average speed is 3.5 miles/hr, and the entire 4 miles is an uphill climb. I start at 3.5 % and increase it to a max of 6%, by the time I am done. Each session lasts 35 minutes. I generally watch something on my big screen TV, while I walk. When I finish each session, I am drenched in sweat, and I have burned 315 calories. I am most proud of my consistency. Once in a great while I will skip one of the 2 sessions, for no other reason than to just treat myself to a break. I think I have done that twice in the past 3 months. Keep in mind that I do these workouts 7 days a week. The scale is finally moving to the left a bit. I decided to add more weight training to my routine. At my son, Ian’s suggestion, I bought Bowflex adjustable dumbells that can go from 5 to 55 lbs. each, and can be increased by 2.5 lbs at a time. They arrived yesterday. Naturally, I will start at 5 lbs. Ian, who works out, using a program called Nerd Fitness, has been sending me articles to read, that should be helpful. I think I will order a weight bench, to complete my small home gym. Turns out, they aren’t that pricey. I will let you know what I think of the weights.

Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz 9/11/2022 1.2 mile swim 56 mile bike 13.1 mile run all along the coast in Santa Cruz CA Looking forward to the training and the race!! Goal will be sub 6 hour finish

I learnt the power of detachment a very long time ago...maybe 40 years ago now, it is also related to Art because "I do Art" and used this when I was in family gatherings, where the chitter chatter drove me crazy. I continued Art in my head, and took photos with my mind, when I couldn't stand the strain, I took photos with my camera. For the simple reason I was quite capable of observing, but the only difference in this scenario is that, the distraction lasts for the time it belongs to this particular event. The concentration of a particular object, is for me paramount to other than beauty, its like a seed of understanding that I wish to explore further. So unfortunately this is not one that I can use very often because my wave length is too long. What I am learning is that the power over myself and understanding of myself needed to be put in order as I was used to listening to my own drummer and no on else's. Now I realize that my common failure if you like is through not listening enough, and the detachment has progressed to a physical shield around me, which doesn't let me get caught in the trap of trying to solve everything. I now can observe and join in with love to my fellow man rather than as the thought of "Family" this works for me now, and I think I have become a better human being than before. So to cut a long story short, its been a tough thought process of learning to understand my reactions to myself. so maybe tough love is the answer for me. I have to learn to hate the thought of smoking without hating myself in the process. A bit deep but there you go I like philsophophy too.

I love this post, @Boo. I have a prompt to help me, a deep breath and feasting my eyes on something of beauty. As soon as I could recognize the thoughts of the addict, I was able to first, distract myself from them with a deep, deep breath and replacing the thought by looking at or listening to something of beauty. This distanced myself from them further and further as time went on and clarity ensued. I use this exercise whenever I am stressed or confused or upset or in a conundrum. The breath and finding something of Beauty now stimulates my endorphins quite quickly. Creatures of habit, are we.