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Happy Friday everyone! I like this one

NOPE

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To all the newbies who are active or lurking, I can tell you that quitting smoking is definitely something you can do and it is worth the early struggles. I quit after roughly 20 years as a smoker, and the last few years of my smoking life was spent struggling with short quits, trying to cut down, relapsing, etc. What helped me was joining a site like this and reaching out for support and reading about others' experiences in their quits. I also tried to take it one week, day, hour, minute at a time.....whatever it took. Don't worry about craves that might happen a day or two from now. Just focus on pushing through and defeating any craves that you may be currently experiencing.. Each crave you fight through makes your quit stronger. Quitting smoking is very doable and I encourage anyone who wants to quit to take the leap. It is worth it.

Congratulations Nancy .. For those who have followed us . Nancy was the member who took me by the hand when i arrived at the forum I will always be grateful...

It just doesn't seem real that I am coming up on 10 years quit! To all who are considering quitting...you CAN do it...and it is so worth the discomfort (and yes, some times misery) you have to go through. I smoked for 40 years, and I know if I can quit, anyone can!! Happy 10th to us!!

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Myself and my fellow Quit Train Buddies are in our Decade Year We have a few who have more years smoke free . So i am throwing a Big Party for us all... Oldies come and tell you how you are doing ..would love to hear from you Doreensfree xx

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

Congratulations johnny5. You are always supportive to all members . Good solid advice ...Thank you x

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Congratulations! You are an inspiration, truly. (Photo courtesy of Casey Horner on Unsplash)

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

Hi, Sandi. These are great questions. Quitting smoking can mess with your blood sugar (drive it down or up) as well as your digestion (which might slow down). So listen carefully to your body, support it with whatever fluids and nutrition it needs during the first crucial weeks of your quit. I am not diabetic, but I do have to be careful about extra weight. I found ice-cold sugar free and caffeine-free drinks (especially diet root beer) to be really helpful. I also used a lot of non-food things: aromatherapy inhalers, silly putty, fidget spinners, etc. Best of all, though, were small tasks to keep me busy. I kept a notebook of little house things that needed attention, and every time my mind or body yearned for a smoke I’d go cross something off the list instead of lighting up. Small stuff like wiping the schmoo out of the bottom of the recycling bin, or tightening a screw on a drawer pull. Distracting myself became a creative exercise. Plus my house was nice and clean for a while, LOL.

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Me too?

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Well done. What an inspiration!!

Congratulations on your 11 year quit Jenny!

Wow that is some serious time! Congrats!

Great to see you Bakon .. Have you any wise words for our Newbies .

Happy double digit year thirteeners!!! I’m still counting days but hey it ain’t hours loll.

Congratulations @Jenny on your awesome quit, I hope you're doing well

Wow, double digits! Love it. Congratulations! (Photo courtesy of Ray Hennessy, Unsplash)

Congratulations on 11 years quit. These are the kind of quits that give the rest of us inspiration.

Congratulations on 11 years smoke free, Jenny. Fantastic job.

Congratulations Jenny .. Wow 11 years ..inspirational... Pop by soon xx

Sunnyside Quit Date: 02/01/22 Posted July 6, 2016 I found this article on another website and thought it may help someone here. By Terry Martin "I quit smoking seven months ago. I do feel better, and I don't struggle all of the time now, but I still have days when I find myself missing my cigarettes. I sometimes wish I could have just one now and then. At times, the urge to smoke is so intense. I wonder if I'll ever be free of this habit? Will I miss smoking forever?" Think for a moment of your life as a tightly woven piece of fabric. Each thread represents your life events and experiences, and running alongside the many "life" threads are threads of a finer gauge. They are so fine in fact, they're impossible to see with the naked eye. Those threads are your smoking habit, and they've become so thoroughly interwoven in the fabric of your life, you find you can't do anything without thinking about how smoking will fit into it. The associations that we build up over time between the activities in our lives and smoking are closely knit. Once you quit smoking, the job becomes one of unraveling those smoking threads, or associations, one by one. How does that happen? And how long does it take? Recovery from nicotine addiction is a process of gradual release over time. Practice Makes Perfect Every smoke-free day you complete is teaching you how to live your life without cigarettes. Bit by bit, you're reprogramming your responses to the daily events that trigger the urge to smoke. The more practice you get, the less cravings will plague you. Over the course of your first smoke-free year, you'll encounter and have a chance to clear most of the events and situations in your daily life that you associate with smoking. Seasonal Smoking Triggers Some smoking triggers are seasonal in nature and can create strong smoking urges months into your quit program. For instance, if you quit smoking during the winter and you're an avid gardener, you could find yourself craving a smoke break the first time you're out digging in the dirt the following spring. Thoughts of smoking related to the seasons may hit you with an intensity you haven't felt in months. Don't worry. Once you make your way through the trigger smoke-free, it will let go and you can move on. The first year is all about firsts...experiencing the many daily events in your life smoke free for the first time. And it's all about practice. You built your smoking habit through years of practice. Now, build the nonsmoking you the same way. Practice is a necessary part of recovery from nicotine addiction, so try to relax and let time help you. The more of it you put between yourself and that last cigarette you smoked, the stronger you'll become. Work on Your Attitude There's another step in finding permanent freedom from nicotine addiction that is just as important as practice and time. It involves your attitude. I'm sure you've heard about people who still struggle years and years after quitting. They're the ones who say they "still miss smoking" 20 years down the road. That's a frightening thing to hear, but don't let it throw you. The reason they are in that position has to do with the fact that they never did the work to change what cigarettes meant to them. Along with using patience and time to help you reprogram your associations with smoking, you must also alter the way you think about your cigarettes. The path to permanent freedom has to do with changing the relationship you have to smoking, and the way to make that mental shift is through education. As the saying goes... Knowledge is Power... ...and it's the truth when it comes to recovering from nicotine addiction. Educate yourself by reading everything you can find about how tobacco harms us from head to toe. It will open your eyes, but more importantly, it will help you start to change the meaning that cigarettes have for you. Once you do that, the mental chains of this addiction will begin to break down for good. You'll truly be free, and believe me, it's a great place to be. Be patient with yourself and allow for as much time as you need to heal from this addiction. There is no set formula for recovery; we're all unique in how we move through the process. Read about nicotine addiction and do the work to change the way you perceive cigarettes. They are instruments of death. They deserve nothing more than your disdain. Don't look at quitting tobacco as a sacrifice. You're not giving up anything of value. Your quit program is a gift. Change your attitude and you'll find your freedom. Cessation is doable, and your precious life is worth the work it takes to achieve. If You Want to Change Your Life, Change Your Mind. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/7257-will-i-always-miss-smoking/

Thank you, Doreen! Also, I am planning my wedding! Getting married on 10/7! I’ve never had a fancy wedding, so this time I am doing it up! Planning is a PITA, but My Matron of Honor is sharing the load. Today, I have my first gown fitting. Exciting stuff. Of course, I am marrying the guy I met on Christmas Day, 2018. John is a keeper. The whole thing seems meant to be. I decided I did not want to meet my Maker, having been living in sin for the last part of my life, so I told John that, and he proposed on Valentine’s Day. Kat