Leaderboard

Rolling along the tracks.... Preparing to return to work next week. Lots to sort through and put away in the house, as I've just let things fester so as not to derail my limited ability to handle frustration in this last week. Yesterday was the day of the most "cigarette time" thoughts and urges (as it was the most like a normal routine day) I've had since regaining my FREEDOM. Only nearly melted down once or twice, the rest of the times I just reminded myself aloud that I don't smoke and moved on with whatever I was doing. Grateful to be able to keep doing things and not feel like stopping, sleeping or crying was the kindest option for myself in the moment. Was super grateful to swim a mile yesterday. My body was happy. Going again today. Be kind to those who seem difficult...maybe they are fighting themselves most of all.

NOPE

NOPE!!!!!!!!!

NOPE

NOPE

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

Smell normal. Not carrying the shame around.

NOPE

Nope...

NOPE!

NOPE…

Still grateful for the many who've found their quit and keep sharing. Glad DenaliBlues tunes out the trash truck, and overcome has a single mint to do something, and Jiller had a tub of mints in the early days, and Intoxicated Yoda found a connection with salt and eliminating coffee and junk food, so much healing and FREEDOM. Glad I am finding my way, too.

Still here fighting the good fight with the help of my baby dogs. They smell like dogs not cigarettes. They keep me in line, if something happens to me who would spoil them rotten. It is the one skill I have, spoiling dogs.

NOPE…

Nope

They are beautiful Kris ... Stay strong and keep spoiling ....

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

NOPE!

So in 10 days I will be 2 years smoke free! I’m so proud of me. I still haven’t had a single craving since day one. I’m horrified at how I’m sure I used to smell. Secondhand smoke absolutely disgusts me. It was awful for a while because my office mate smoked like a chimney but she’s now almost a month smoke free now too! Definitely makes for a better day for me not having to smell her all day. Lol If you’re reading this and just starting your journey, you got this! Just keep reminding yourself why you’re quitting and stick to it! If you need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to vent to, reach out!

Great update, @darcy. Glad you are starting to normalize your life as a nonsmoker. There will be rough patches, but you’re building quitting “muscles” to help you through those times. Booyah, baby!

4. Make a Moroccan mosaic

NOPE

Still smoke free but still have occasional urges.

This was something I never knew or considered, how destructive smoking was to a persons self esteem and character.

There are so many plusses when we quit ....I agree KDad... Smokers have that black cloud of shame following them everywhere they go ...

Your winning your battles ....each battle takes you nearer to winning your war ... Your doing great Darcey

Today I feel frustrated again with my longing to smoke. I’ve made it nearly 11 months without nicotine – and the freedom is sweet. But I’ve hit a lot of triggers recently. Grief is a big one, there was another death in my family last week. Work is frustrating. Expensive and aggravating things keep going wrong with the house. While on vacation, I’m finding it hard to uncouple relaxing from smoking. My quit is intact. I’m proud of that, and determined to stay away from nicotine. But I still feel bedeviled by the desire for a cigarette. I find myself romancing the smoke… longing for the “ahhh” feeling that I imagine it would give me. Red flag. Time to remind myself that the gratification fantasy is a big lie. Smoking wouldn’t fix anything that’s broken, nor bring back anybody who I am mourning. It would just give me a headache, ratchet up my blood pressure, and roil up my stomach acid. That “ahhh” feeling is the biggest lie of all. After smoking as heavily as I did for as long as I did, I had screwed up most of the dopamine transporters in my brain. Smoking was making me feel worse, not better. There was no such thing as “enough” smoking for me. Just an endless pursuit of gratification ghosts that would always elude my grasp. Futile. Demoralizing. The only thing nicotine ever did for me was make me want more nicotine. It is NOT my friend. Yet even as I write this, I want a smoke. How stupid is that?! Addiction is so crazy. I need to think of these desires as dumb commercials trying to sell me junk I don’t want - tune them out. The urge to smoke is just a smelly trash truck rumbling by. Let it pass. Don’t give it the power of my attention. Time to go read "How to Prevent a Relapse" for the 100th time. If anyone wants to share other thoughts about how to stop romancing the smoke, I’m all ears - it helps to hear how other people think about this. Thanks to everyone for being here. Without the Quit Train I’d be much more vulnerable to the traps my addiction sets for me. I’m grateful to my fellow quitters, newbies and veterans alike. You all make my quit much stronger.

Kdad, 8 months is a huge bit of Freedom. Glad you're quit. What're the top 2 things you're enjoying now that were different as a slave to nicotine?

Yaaa @Kdad....Really good to hear from you ... Huge Congratulations....on your fabulous Quit .... Keep on ...moving forward .... A huge pat on the back

It’s good to hear from you @Kdad! This is awesome news!

Great to hear from you, @Kdad! So glad to hear that you are still smoke free!!

Is it cold there in WI .... haha Congrats @Kdad

Hey @Kdad, its good to hear from you Congratulations on over eight months quit, you're doing great! Urges are still to be expected unfortunately but should be getting much easier to get past at this point

DB .... so sorry to hear how you are feeling my friend. I have no real words of wisdom only that what is working for me to quiet the stronger or predictable cravings. I had been giving the craving a big NOPE and doing my best to ignore it or fight it. But lately, I have been doing one mint which gives me the feeling that I have physically done something and the craving is gone. Hang in there, the long time quitter's here say it gets easier and I hope to experience that for myself.

@DenaliBlues So sorry for the loss of a loved one❤ Good job posting your feelings. I can so relate to everything your saying. You are not alone!! But I know you that smoking will not change any of the hard things that happen in life. I can tell you that is what caused me to throw away my year quit and nothing changed, except I was so angry at my self a the issues that were stressing me out were still there. Plus more!!! You can do this you are very strong and have made it so far. Don't give in to the beast!!! I can tell you its normal to feel the way you do I'm right there with you!!Use your tools and the great people here!! Hang in there, just don't smoke!!! !!

@DenaliBlues I'm so sorry to hear you are struggling and for the loss of a family member. What got me past that lingering romance with smoke was to tackle the other addictions I had that were riding shotgun with the cigarettes. Junk food and coffee. Once I realized that I actually was addicted to those things as well and eliminated them my thought processes actually started changing. I still thought about smoking but it was in a different way and it was much easier to distract myself from it. And when the thought was gone, it was totally gone, which didn't normally happen for me. It was always simmering on the back burner, just waiting for the opportunity to ambush me. Then, I found a solution to my muscle cramping episodes. Turns out taking a healthy dose of sea salt a few times a day and no more cramps. Guess what else I didn't have anymore? That tightness in the back of my throat that was always there and gave me that panicky feeling in my stomach that I always would get when I was jonesing for a smoke but couldn't. Turns out ingesting more salt solved a lot of little minor problems I had like headaches, the late morning nausea I would get. All these things tied into the routine I had spent years building around smoking. Then trying to fix something totally unrelated and all these other things resolved and snap, craves don't even register. Funny how you can just stumble over things sometimes. Let me clarify, I still think about smoking from time to time. There are still triggers, but I don't get blindsided with those random gnawing craves to smoke. Anyway, none of this will stop the trials of life from happening. The roof will have leaks, the cars won't start at times and loved ones will leave us far to soon, but maybe not all of the grief and stress we feel is just in our heads. Maybe there is a physical component to it as well. Maybe we are driven to smoke or eat bad food because our body is deficient in something but we trained our brains to react to the deficiency in the wrong way and if we figure out what the body is really wanting the craves will lose their sting and we can better deal with the traumas of life. All I can do really though is offer my condolences and hope that you can find something of value in my experience.

@DenaliBlues, sorry about your family member's death, you've been hit hard thus year for sure. And I'm sorry you're struggling with your quit. The holidays this first year quit are always going to bring craves to the majority of us. It's part of why we recommend sticking close to us your first year quit. I used my air cigarette when those tough craves came up. I call it my JAC (jillars air cigarette). Also posting like you've done and reading those posts that really resonated with you like it sounds How to prevent a relapse has with you. You can also try sucking on a piece of candy or a sucker, I got hooked on those soft peppermint puffs for my whole first year quit. Bought them by the tub fulls lol. If all else fails just go to bed and hopefully tomorrow will be better Just know that what you're going through with your quit is normal for not only this tine of year but also with all you're dealing with and it will pass as long as you don't smoke.