dirty130

Hey guys, I just wanted to write a message here to say thank you to all those who responded to my original post here when I introduced myself. I have now been quit for about 6 months, things are only looking up and I absolutely love my new smoke free life! I have never been one for "support groups" and I felt like I might end up pouring out my heart and soul to you lot when the quit got hard so I posted under the name "Luke" in case anyone I knew in real life read my posts... haha stupid, I know. Even though it's not an important detail, my name is Ryan and I am proud to say I am a non-smoker! So nice to meet you for real this time. :) Anyway you guys are awesome and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for being here! After I failed my first time, as gracious as you all were about it, I really felt like I let you guys down and it made me want to strike out on my own to avoid wasting your time with more failed quits. It was still comforting knowing that there were people out there who had taken that step though and who had faced the struggles I was facing. I thought about the advice I received often, such as protecting the quit, accepting that ex-smokers are different from non-smokers and we are always going to be nicotine junkies. So while I wasn't here giving my daily pledge I suppose that provided a sort of connection to the group anyway. Some advice that I found really useful for getting me through the really hard times were some words of wisdom from my brother. He told me, "quitting smoking is like breaking up with your ex - once you break up you can't ever hit that again," and while there is something to be said about me finding a sex-related anology the most effective method for quitting, it was pretty damn effective. I thought about the amount of explaining I had to do once I got myself back into bed with an ex numerous times because I simply gave into my passions, and I reflected on the trouble it brought, emotional heartache etc. etc. This really helped frame how messy things would get for me if I let smoking back into my life. :) So best of luck to all the new quitters and once again, thank you to the veterans of this forum, I may be back every now and again to add my two cents. :) Au revoir!

Hey guys. So you're probably not surprised but I started smoking again. I went for just under 3 months and lit up again with my friend a few weeks ago (who said I'd never be able to quit haha) as much as he tried to discourage me from doing it I gave up on defending my quit. Some girl at work accused me of fondling her which wasn't true but she wanted my shifts. I didn't know who I could talk to at work because it's a restaurant full of girls. I work with my girlfriend too and she didn't know what to believe. Anyway all the managers came around to my side and saw what a pig this girl is and now her shifts are getting cut after I said I won't work with her. I started working out at the gym almost from day 1 when I quit and loved it so much so that I signed up to a personal training course which would have been starting now but I can't afford it. My car broke down and cost a small fortune to repair, work cut my hours over school holidays to use students for cheap labour, I had to replace my phone which died and defer my personal training course for a few months because I can't make repayments. So now I'm housebound pretty much and just feeling down all the time. I've bought myself 3 packets over this week to pass time but I really don't wanna get back into it. I know these are the sort of things life throws at everyone and I'll have to face it without cigarettes next time. Thanks for the message by the way Marti. I'm sorry I stopped dropping in.

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That's not weird at all. :lol:

Nice Michelle! Remember this week is your most mentally challenging so treat it like training. Nicotine is completely out of your system after 3 days around abouts so the rest of your quit depends on your will power and commitment to your pledge! Soon you won't know why you even wanted one

What's the pendant for?

This chick is like a female version of Rod Stewart :lol:

Well done! 4,500 cigarettes where do we even find the time? Assuming that each cigarette takes about 5 minutes or so to smoke that's about 15 days you also avoided standing outside buildings, shopping malls or out in the rain smoking! ;)

Thanks for this, it's very inspirational! :)

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Let me know when you get back. :) You'll never have to go back to the store and habitually spend money everyday on such a useless thing ever again! Treat yourself today with something nice or go to a restaurant just to celebrate another day of freedom because you're doing something incredible for yourself!

Good luck Michelle! Just focus on not giving up. Don't think about the future or the day you can join the non-smokers because the smoker in you doesn't care about the paradise called freedom when a craving hits. You want to embody a non-smoker when you make the pledge, think like a non-smoker, behave like a non-smoker and truly believe that one puff isn't an option and DEFEND your quit. The suffering is rough but a cigarette is only a short term solution to a long-term problem. We all want to help you throw the ciggies but you need to do the hard yards yourself!

I really do appreciate the support and yeah Marti you are right about those free flow times! Maybe I need to revel in them more often but sometimes I stop and feel a sense of relief that I don't need to stress about how many smokes are left in my pocket, whether I have enough money in my account to supply my habit for the rest of the week and when I can stay under my blanket at night instead of feeling compelled to dive out into the hellish cold to suck on a cancer stick. You're right that it was the only sane choice. It's been 2 weeks now and I feel great so it must of just been a really bad day when I posted this. :P

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Welcome to the Quittrain Valereally! A sucker for when you start your tantrums...good idea! You've made the best decision of your life! Wishing for you a smooth quit. :)

Thanks guys! I think I just really need to sleep, too. Yes I think I will always mourn cigarettes to be honest. I've been finding other things to do like going to the gym, playing unreasonable amounts of video games, taking extra shifts at work. Thanks for the replies and I hope everyone else is feeling good about their quit. Amazing that ciggies had this much influence over my emotions and body, I'm glad that I can take on life as a non-smoker now. :)

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