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NOPE!

NOPE!!!!!!!!

nope..nope..nope..nope..nope

NOPE

Still nope

11 month update. I had to think about this for a while since not a lot has changed from last month. I guess I'll just start with the smoking, or lack thereof and what it's like dealing with that now. Honestly, I still think about smoking everyday but I'm not obsessing over it. It takes less and less effort to distract myself from the thoughts as I wouldn't even classify it as craves anymore. I've been staying pretty strict on the diet. Probably about 90 days on it since my last divergence. Still have problems with my shoulder so I can't do much upper body work out. The hip seems to be not as bad as it was although I still have some minor nagging issues with it. My eyesight is actually getting better, I did not see that one coming (see what i did there). But seriously, i can read some of the smaller print that 3 months ago I would just be like screw it, if that warning on this pill bottle was that important they would have it printed in bigger letters. Lack of sleep had been killing me over the last month due to cramps. Sometimes they would start at around midnight and last til 4 or 5 am or they would start at 3 or 4 am and totally screw my sleep up. I took everything you could think of to prevent the cramps and I think I may have found a solution. Started taking free form taurine 6 days ago. No cramps for the last 2 days...at all. I take anywhere from 4 to 8 grams of it per day. In fact today was the first day in long time I made it through an entire day without nodding off or getting the watery eyes from being sleepy. go me. If you have cramping issues give it a try. it's not very expensive. Been 2 months drinking only water. no coffee, tea or anything else liquid. quitting coffee is about as intense as quitting cigarettes but it doesn't last as long. Things I've seen about say you really don't start feeling the benefits quitting for about a year so I'll wait it out and see. I have tried to drink a beer here and there on the golf course but it really makes me feel like shit almost immediately so I'm pretty much done with that. I don't know where I'm at on my quest to lose my quit weight since my scale broke. Maybe I'll get another one but for now I'm just gonna do what I'm been doing a let the weight take care of itself. Well, that's about it. I'm still in the process of crushing all my addictions. Will be interesting to see what life is like not needing some kind of poison to get through the day. take care everyone and stay strong. remember...the steeper the climb the better the view when you get to the top.

3 hours - walked around the backyard blowing bubbles (instead of smoke) Don't worry - I won't update every hour. I have been watching the videos all week and I want to focus on the positive. If I'm not back this evening - I will be bright and early tomorrow morning trying to work through the morning funkiness. I do you have some frozen breakfast bowls that I can shove in my mouth first off to address the "H" part of H.A.L.T

I'm going to use this thread as a journal of sorts. Just went through the 2 hour zoinkies. All of you know that fidgety, irritated, distractedness that hits at the 2 hour mark when you were in a meeting, on a flight or some other place that was no-smoking. Blech - did 10 table push-ups (thanks @DenaliBlues) strangled my fidget stretch caterpillar doohickey, ate a granola bar. I have tools and I'm not afraid to use them! I picked today as my quit day because I was the only one at the office this morning and remote working from Noon today until 8:30am next Wednesday. I can remote work next Wednesday & Thursday (my office days) if I need to. I am very fortunate with that flexibility - I know not everyone has it. I picked an afternoon quit time because I want to have 16 or so hours under my belt before I get up tomorrow. I also picked a Thursday in case day 2-4 are royally sucky, I can stay in bed or basically do whatever I want (that doesn't involve sticking anything in mouth and lighting it on fire). We do have plans on Saturday but my husband will still go and enjoy himself if I back out with a case of the "drama queens" (thanks @El Bandito I love that phrase). Oh look at that I just used a 1/2 hour posting this reply. I went out this week and bought party favor bags and filled them with little treats and gadgets for myself as rewards. I figure I deserve to be nice to myself finally!

NOPE

NOPE

Well here I am. I boarded at 1:08 PM (PDT)Watch out I can be a nervous traveler And excuse the mess and excess baggage.

G’day simple…..NOPE

So happy for you FM Stick with it, gets better.

I have just opened my 1 hour present to myself - a magnetic memory game. I got the idea from someone on here who played a memory game on their phone but I wanted something that would keep my hands busy and I could travel with (without relying on cell reception or batteries being charged). Yay Me

NOPE..

NOPE!

NOPE!

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

Never mind - it's working! I can see my ticker but it seems stuck. Did I do something wrong?

Glad you took your seat @FunkyMonkey, reach out if you need us

Rewards are good! They reinforce your good quit behavior! Set your milestones or goals and reward yourself accordingly. Keep checking out the forum too! Lots of good stuff that will educate you about the lies & realities of smoking & quitting. There's a video page too that addresses just about every single issue surrounding smoking & quitting. Need a little extra motivation? Get mad at the tobacco industry by watching the three episodes of Tobacco Wars. Lots of stuff for you here on this site

Welcome aboard - barf-bags for nervous travelers are over there in the corner if needed Seriously though, quitting is ultra simple. Only one rule: N.O.P.E. (Not One Puff Ever). maintain that rule as your junkie brain tries to convince you otherwise & you'll come out the other side as a proud quitter! You'll get lots of expert knowledge here as well as support from other quitters

@FunkyMonkey Welcome aboard!! Enjoy the ride!!

This is my Last day of peace for two weeks .. Dog Sitting King Louis ....My Sons Family Cavapoochon....while they go on thier jolly,s to Spain ... My Ted the cat just about tolerates him ...and is definitely the Boss.... Louis gives him a wide berth .... So wish me luck ...playing referee .....Here is the housequest...

Great update Yoda ... You sound just where your body supposed to be .... It's still early days and the benefits keep on coming .... I will make sure the Lido Deck has plenty of water ,just for you .... And plenty of wine for me and a few other ladies here lol....

To Me - From Me LORI LISTEN! STOP - DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT SMOKE!!!! You are one cigarette away from a major cardio event and you know what that looks like from sitting by the bedside of someone you love dearly, who was in ICU for a week. Look at the photo if you need a reminder. Your body NEEDS clean air - pay attention to that crave! You will not give any more money to people who supply you with products that kill you. NOPE - never again The only thing smoking does for you is kill you. You want to feel good, look good & smell good. When you smoke - you are none of these. None. Craves get better - they will not last that long and they will not kill you - use your emergency bags - if the bags are empty go to the G-damn store and buy whatever it takes to get through this - just DONT smoke! Adjust your NRT if you cut back or stopped too soon NOPE for this crave, NOPE for this hour, NOPE for today, just NOPE Call the EAP or schedule a TelaDoc if you need more help. Just DO NOT SMOKE! You are strong, even when you feel weak. Smoking does not help you, at all, ever. The withdrawal will get better - I promise. Do a rosary - as many times as needed. Eat, sleep, soak your feet, paint your nails, play a game, clean out the junk drawer, take a walk, take another walk, the possibilities are endless. YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU KNOW. YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THIS CRAVE.

Sovereign Hill Raspberry Drops....for those not from the great land diwn under or lucky enough to have visited our wonderful tourist attraction Soveriegn Hill, these are the greatest lollies. I remember it well Jo....great place .....and yes I also remember all the boobies

10. Make a meme Okay, next let’s try 10 things to do with… bricks.

Last week it was 46 here, what's all the fuss.......

nope

Looks good to me

He is adorable @Doreensfree

@Doreensfree Awww. King Louis sure is handsome. Good luck!

Boo and I have been down the gym again .... He's keeps telling me to keep practicing...

Drinking team with a hockey habit this eve My fav team to play with

@Boothanks. best GIFt ever.

I had an app on my phone that would send me little reward sms... it's 1 hour since you smoke..as the awards went further, the messages would come with updates about what changes to my body/health I had achieved. It also had a memory match game that was timed. By the time the timer ran out the crave was gone. Um...I played all the games, who can forget a whole page of boobies. I stirred the shit. I played hours of minesweeper. NOPE was a big thing for me....I mean I'd pledge it publicly to one and all...made it harder to cave to the crave. I used nrt chewies...plus they got me through some tough times...negative, they prolonged the whole withdrawal stage and craves...if I had the time over would I use them again?...probably. For me, I needed the psychological crutch they provided...I do think my approach, which was to make the gap between chewies longer each time and to have a normal chewie every second time, meant I wasn't substituting 1 addiction for another....nrt is not for everyone...it certainly isn't the cure all..but for me it was a tool that contributed to my success. Sovereign Hill Raspberry Drops....for those not from the great land diwn under or lucky enough to have visited our wonderful tourist attraction Soveriegn Hill, these are the greatest lollies (candies/sweets) ever. They are a hard boiled Raspberry flavoured lolly which I would suck during a crave...not overly sweet with a slight sour kick, not unlike a real Raspberry, these things were my reward.

Congratulations @overcome Great job! Do stay on guard though. Strength to you!

Hello! Yesterday, going back to work was tough, new and different triggers to deal with. Not terrible, but you sure realize how much smoking dominated everything you do. Today was a little easier, being prepared or knowing where/when all the trouble would be coming from and be ready with a big NOPE! What I have learned here has helped so much understanding what the heck is going on and why I feel the way I do. My caffeine intake is around 35% of what it was (which was a lot) while smoking, so feeling a little sluggish .... but good, hard to describe, more solid or stable I guess. I am sleeping good and deep breathing exercises are starting to be routine. I think all the changes will take a little while to settle in as normal for me as a non-smoker. Been checking out the web site here and one thing for sure is, I won't be playing the chicks with sticks game So grateful to be on the train and smoke free, as I said before, my quit would have been so much different without you all. Thank you

It does look like (unless there's a complete train wreck) I will make a week, @10:15 pm a week ago today I was smokeless. Things sure would have been different if I would have missed the train and all your support. Thanks for the reminder of a reward @Mac#23 think I am going to get some new coffee, my regular tastes like . Currently, working on TRIGGERS and identifying them, but there are so many......do you all realize it's like everything...everything revolved around smoking @johnny5 you had a justified concern regarding my previous quits and triggers. The main trigger previously was alcohol, some might agree we do not always make the best decisions while consuming alcohol, that is no longer an issue for me. Thanks' Everyone!

I’m a newcomer pinging in to say hello. I’ve been lurking on the site for a while, but I set up a profile today so that I could participate. Thanks for the experiences and the compassionate, nonjudgmental encouragement shared here. Reading the info and comments has helped me through some white-knuckle moments. My last smoke was 17 days ago. It was not a planned quit. I was having oral surgery, and at midnight the night before I learned that smoking through the post-op was a really bad idea. (As if all the other harms of smoking for the last 40 years were somehow a really good idea?! Yeah, go figure.) Anyway, I slammed into this quit bass ackwards… unprepared mentally, emotionally or physically. I didn’t have any tools to hand, and hadn’t thought through how to be intentional to set myself up to succeed. Just boom. But I’m trying hard to make it work. There’s more than just a dental emergency at play. I want this quit and the suffering it entails to count for something. I’ve been ambivalent about smoking for some time, have been living in denial about the consequences, and have let smoking control my life for too long. Cold turkey was not an option for me, personally. (Did that before, didn’t stick.) So I’m using the patch on a step-down system. I’m constantly fiddling with silly putty. Trying to stay busy. Doing a lot of wall pushups. Attempting to stay positive. Getting a grip on my triggers. Making lists of alternative things to do in those moments. Re-reading the science. Doing more wall push-ups. I’m struggling with feelings of despair and intense physical discomfort as my body adjusts to a lot less nicotine. But this week, on average, was a bit easier than the last. So maybe that’s progress? I think addiction likes to hide in the dark. It feeds on shame and distortions, and whispers false justifications to us. So I guess part of why I am joining this QT community is to fend off those shadows by reaching out for reinforcement, to try to fill my brain with something different. I need to banish that voice from the dark that says nicotine is my best friend (it’s not) and says that I can’t exist without my smokes (I can, and I have 17 days of evidence to prove it). Today I am grateful for having your voices in my head, instead. You are helping me to rewire. Thanks for listening and bearing witness in return. DenaliBlues

Welcome! I am new as well. If I can do it after 64 years a smoker then anyone can. 17 days is a great start. I’m not far from where you are. Do I THINK of them? Yes! Do I WANT one? No! That’s how I have to keep answering my craves. You wouldn’t be here if you still WANTED to smoke, right? So just keep reminding yourself of that. I’m home recuperating from lung cancer surgery. Lost half a lung. Don’t end up where I am. No fun. Keep posting and especially reading. We can do this. YOU can do this.

The magic cigarette. I had to smoke one first thing in the morning because it woke me up. Also had to smoke one right before bed so I could get some sleep. I had to smoke when I needed to focus on something. Also had to smoke when I just needed to clear my head and zone out for a bit. Finally figured out that attributing so many contradictory "benefits" to identical cigarettes was ridiculous. I need to relax or I need to focus sounds better than I need another fix. Facing the fact that I smoked because I was addicted to nicotine and I was addicted to nicotine because I smoked was important for me. Helped me recognize the futility of smoking.

I got distracted and have not been doing my part here lately but @Mac#23 has held the fort admirably Where are we now? 5