Sirius

Good advice Dee. I'm happy to see all of the responses. Looks like folks have given this more then just a passing thought. Feed the pig.

Yup, I definitely missed smoking when I started my quit. Its one of the reasons I kept a jar with cigarettes butts, ashes, and water around. When I needed a reminder I'd unscrew the lid and take a deep whiff to remind me of what I was missing. Go ahead and give it a try.

So...since I quit the smokes and spend a bit more time trying to keep healthy it looks like I may have to do some retirement planning. Apparently the advice is to have 10 times your annual income saved by age 67. So...how is everyone doing on that target figure? Just curious. The good news is the money saved from forgoing the smokes makes saving for (or indeed, just having) retirement a bit easier. Still, are we really supposed to have north of a half million in the piggy bank? OMG!

I tried using the NOPE tool for dieting. "Not One Calorie Ever" but I couldn't maintain it. Felt too much like I was starving.

That's awesome Latoya! You are on the road to dodging many of horrible things that can happen to you if you continued smoking. Time for the obligatory motivational poster. We title this one; "Kiss me! I'm a smoker."

Keep on Truckin' You are in the driver's seat. You control your destiny. You decide where you will end up. Congrats.

Brick on the accelerator. Don't ever look back.

Our moral stance will not be abrogated by the friction of the day. Well done sir.

Never fry bacon naked. “There was a young lady named MaeWho smoked without stopping all day;As pack followed pack,Her lungs first turned black,And eventually rotted away.” ― Edward Gorey, Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer

"Technically" true. Hmmm....way to many trues are showing up. On weekends, to let off steam, the NP participates in full-contact origami.

Each individual makes their own path to freedom.

When you first start your quit you might envy those who still smoke. Then one day you realize you pity them. That's the day you quit.

You are so right Abby. 99% doesn't do it. It has to be 100% or nothing.

-8

Bakon has had several rounds of electroshock therapy sessions (hence...bakon) to safeguard his secret identity even from himself.

Nicotine molecules block the acetylcholine receptors in your brain. This causes a release of other neurotransmitters and hormones that affect your mood, appetite, memory, and more. It's going to take awhile for your brain to relearn how to operate without the nicotine so, yeah, feeling "down" is not unusual. The shortest path is through the mud. It does get better.

O U T S T A N D I N G !

I think most people quit after they experience some sort of illness that scares them witless. Nothing quite like the incentive found in the icy breeze of death's scythe making a near miss.

The things we pay dearly for we prize highly. My quit is priceless and so is yours!

Ten days is significant progress and nothing you want to just throw away. Think of those craves as the tantrums of your inner child. Reassure the child that it will get better. Your in it together and you will weather this storm.

I used to chew on cinnamon sticks, jalapeno peppers, spare tires, dry ice, rebar.... Be angry. Angry is good. You're paying off the bill for the sins of yesterday. Never smoke again and you will only pay the bill once. Chew on some rebar and march on. I'm rooting for you!

Present and still not smoking.

535th Ordnance Company which supported 2/2 but later on I was stationed up in Wildflecken for HHB, 3/52 ADA Bn which was previously known as 1/1. Did a brief stint with HHB 2/7 ADA BN (Patriot) in the Gulf war. I was just a Rattrigger.

So many things people have said were a help and inspiration for me. Here's one. You have to learn how to accept The Desire to Smoke. You just have to tell yourself, "Okay now I'm having this desire so I'm going to just sit with that desire and tolerate it. Hi, desire, what's up. I see you, desire. It's okay. Hush, hush, sweet desire, there, there."