Sunnyside

Evelyn vs Bat tonight for the right to be the supreme champion of this game

Wow!!! Congratulations Nancy :)

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.

Well done Evelyn! We kept your seat warm for you :)

Nice Daisy :) Into the semi-finals we have Skillfullabbot with Wales vs Pork and Pancake's with Portugal & Evelyn's France vs Bats Germany. Good luck to you all :)

Happy Birthday to you :)

Well done hell week done ;)

Brilliant, congratulations :)

Right, I stand corrected :) Evelyn you are still in with France. Bat and Skillfulabbot are through to the semi-finals Joe is still in with Iceland :)

Happy birthday Action :)

skillfulabbot, sorry for late answer if you want to take number 9 you have Wales :)

Sorry, been rubbish with this. Joe and Bat are still in it.

I disagree that people who have quit for a long time cannot help you quit. I found having people spurring me on that had, been there and done it all. Really helped. It showed me it was possible. There are lots of ways to quit. NO right way! If you feel cutting down is the way forward for you, then do it. But at one point you have to let go. My advice would be to read and read and read as much as you can. You have to understand that smoking does nothing for you, but lose you valuable seconds off your life. So the quicker you leave this all behind the better. I would implore you to stick around, you may not agree with what has been said to you but they are hear to support you and the more you read and learn about this addiction, you will see that.

Come on and get on the train!!!!

I could list so many times, all as bad as each other. Smoking never seemed to be my life but it certainly was. You need to break though to the other side and then it is so obvious :(

Welcome aboard :)

Welcome Pat, lovely to meet you :)

-4

Brilliant!! Well done both :)

Sorry miss this, Well done Pancake, brilliant job :)

Good to see you are feeling better now. Have you ever played make it rain? It's very addictive or Candy crush something to suck you into the screen. At times like that. Good job though Evelyn :)

Quitting smoking has made me feel this bad, when in fact it's the smoking that you have done for years not quitting.

Didn't you say you was changing your meds? That would be my theory, as so of the side effects are brutal.

Congratulations on both fronts :)

Congratulations!!! I hope you are treating yourself because this is a biggie :)