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

NOPE

NOPE!

NOPE!!

NOPE…

Nope!

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

NOPE!

NOPE

nope

HAPPY Friday... its time for all of us special window lickers to pat ourselves on the back for another smoke free week. The Church Lady from Saturday Night Live was probably one of the biggest Window Lickers on the planet. Who is ready to join the Church Lady and strut accross the stage as Certified Window Lickers????

NOPE!

NOPE

NOPE!!

NOPE…

Nope. Never again...

Unsociable numpty’s

I’m here

Good morning @Penguin.... well I certainly can identify with letting go of favourite junk foods. I have the same issue. Maybe we can support each othe and make a committment. How about we both commit to not eating junk food for one week, until next Friday.... and try to replace junk foods with other healther snacks? I am going to give that a try this week. Are you in?

Don’t rush to stop your gum , if it helps your journey it will take , as long as it takes The only time I think of smoking now is when I come here , Not to smoke … but to help you not to… Im so proud of you …

LOVE it!! Congratulations @Kdad, you're doing great. I also get a thought to smoke pop into my head. I stop short of calling it a crave because it has no power when it comes.

I think it definitely helps to reframe the way you think about cigarettes. Every time I failed my quit, it was because I thought, "I'm missing out on something smokers get to do." These days, I do have times when I miss certain aspects of smoking, like the measured routine of lighting up, breathing in, exhaling, feeling the tension abate. I don't miss the addiction, nausea, stench, health problems, and worry that came with all of that, though. I don't desire cigarettes. I hate them. I can't stand the smell of them. It irritates me to see people smoke openly and endanger the health of others. I do desire the stress release, tactile feel, and the breathing routine cigarettes provided for me once upon a time. Thankfully, I've found other avenues for those things. One reason gum is often recommended is because it gives you something to "play" with as you roll it around in your mouth, stretch it out, and blow bubbles with it; that's all tactile response that keeps you busy. They recommend coin flipping, card twirling, and toying with straws for the same reason, because it gives your fingers something to do. I'm not sure I agree willpower isn't enough, but I'm also not convinced Joel isn't correct on that point. I do know one of the key differences between this quit and my previous attempts is that I think of cigarettes as unhealthy, nasty, cancer sticks, not a treat I'm missing out on.

Personally, I think my inner nicotine addict will always be there, ready to pounce if I let it. But it’s how I relate to those impulses that counts. Abstinence is essential - but not sufficient. I say this as someone who lost a 7 year quit… 7 years of merely not smoking was not enough to protect me. What I lacked then, but am building now, is a deeper understanding of addiction and a commitment to recovery from it. So yes, I still experience the desire to smoke sometimes. I probably always will. But I can see it more clearly now, I know it for what it is (no good), and I don’t let the thoughts take root or give them any power. Kind of like a fart cloud. Sometimes unpleasant, sometimes funny, sometimes, “Where did that come from?!” But you wave it off and get on with your day.

Congrats on making it over a month @Kdad! That’s awesome! How does it feel?

Still no smoking! Been over a month. I have been chewing plain sugar free gum though. Plan is to stop that at some point. I feel that this is a new quit still so I am cobbling together all kinds of ideas into a quit smoking philosophy of sorts. I came across a video for the CBQ method. It states that willpower won’t work in the long term. We need to no longer DESIRE cigarettes. What do you guys think? Joel says we always want a cigarette for long term nonsmokers, is he right?