Sazerac

NOPE is all that matters. The rest will sort itself out or not. NOPE, man, NOPE ! Love, s

Consult your doctors. People have had successful quits using NRT. Cigarettes are, in their own right, a self harm weapon and are doing you no good at all. Please be extra kind to yourself ! Life without the slavery and consistent anxiety that accompanies addiction is really, really GOOD.

Welcome farmgirl, Glad you found your smoke free pals and I know you will like the QTrain. Congratulations on your quit! You have some three month compatriots...and might find these links helpful. No Man's Land and another about our experiences with No Man's Land

To be filed under: Math, never a strong suit. I was working with the numbers and screwed up figuring out cigarettes NOT smoked. Instead, I calculated how many cigarettes I HAVE smoked. I have smoked more than half a million cigarettes. This has made me feel quite sick but, it sounds like a low estimate and I don't want to do any more math this evening. gah !

Excellent, Fab, splendid affirmation. It feels really good taking back control ! I promise that soon, your desire to smoke will fade into oblivion leaving you able to apply your new super power in other ways. I saw on your post to wren that you may be hitting some bumps, don't worry. Stay close to the board and post a lot, it helps you and all the others seen and unseen. Check out these two posts about the 3 month mark here and here

Welcome wren, Congratulations on your quit! Quits can reach a bump after the new and shiny has worn off, in fact, it's been called No Man's Land. Click and read here about it and here about our experiences. (these are both in house safe links) Don't worry, you will emerge on the other side but, it may be comforting to know you are not alone. Don't forget to breath and have some fun.

Great topic Whispers. These things made my quit easier, for sure. I quit on a whim, a challenge to myself. Education. Thanks to Joel, this site and lurking around the sphere, I learned everything I could about addiction. Information is Big Power and I felt sufficiently armed to quit smoking. Rewards. Not only does rewarding yourself help to re-wire your brain receptors, treating yourself as well you possibly can makes life so nice. A little spoiling goes a long way, especially during rugged transitions. Changing Focus. It took some doing but, s l o w l y, when junkie thoughts would start to drag me down, I began to train myself to look at something beautiful or think of beauty in some way. The concept of H.A.L.T. (are you hungry, angry, lonesome, tired). Nine times out of ten, smokey thoughts weren't about nicotine at all, it was my body (poor thing) hollering at me to do something life sustaining for it. When I look back at my quit, I could have made it a lot easier on myself had I worked on Changing Focus sooner and with more diligence. For a while, I was just a real spoiled brat with way too many whines. Addiction is such a whiny business, innit.

Welcome Rasdaan, Cutting down on nicotine is torture...terrible torture. Cold turkey is completely do-able. Educate yourself about your addiction and join us in the fun here....good distractions, information and camaraderie.

I love this place. You are doing great Opah....

Reward yourself, Opah, for EVERY crave beaten. You are winning. NOPE-ly yours, S

You can power through, I KNOW you can. You are a smoke free creature ! Protect your quit with all you got and know we are on your side. Yay, Bez, for remembering HALT.

NOPE, nope-ity nope nope. Look, See and Understand what one damn puff does !

Feeling really sad for J's and other's moms, dads mortality sucks Basho has helped me through days fraught or kind. careful lovely words Basho's Death Poem evocative and so sad here it is, below "Sick on my journey only my dreams will wander these lonely moors" (Matsuo Basho (1644–1694)

Powerful post from Aine, turning me on to John Polito

Hi Weegie, You have the feel of Haiku down beautifully. The rules of Haiku are simple; a poem of three phrases, phrase one contains 5 syllables, phrase two contains 7 syllables, phrase three contains 5 syllables. so, make a haiku from your sweet poem written it might look like this thinking of you too (5 syllables) not sure how to do haiku (7 syllables) did I do this one ? (5 syllables) glad our haiku friends continue a tradition in new smoke free home.

Pulled this after strolling through the archives this morning...

This is such sad news, Jillar is too far away. Let's all hold her hand More love for Jillar. Hope she can find some comfort in small kindnesses

Deep in the archives, I found another gem from, our friend, Cristóbal Cristóbal's Quit Days % Some people are amazed that even though they may have several weeks or months quit, that they still do not feel completely "normal", and continue to miss smoking. When this happens, figure your "Quit Days %" and then you will see why. The way to calculate this is: Number of Years Smoked x 365 = Smoke Days. Number of Days Not Smoked = Quit Days. Then, Quit Days ÷ Smoke Days = "Quit Days %". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will go first, to be the first example. I smoked for about 30 years. 30 years x 365 = 10,950 Smoke Days. As of today, I have not smoked for 5 years, 2 months, 7 days. This period of times = 1904 Quit Days. Then, 1904 Quit Days ÷ 10,950 Smoke Days = 17.388%. This is my "Quit Days %". In other words, even at more than 5 years since my last cigarette, as of today I have been quit for only 17.388% of the total time I smoked. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, let us take as the second example, a smoker who smoked for 30 years, and has been quit for just 4 months. These 4 months might seem like a very long time to the ex-smoker, but it is nothing when compared to 30 years. This smoker who smoked for 30 years, has 30 years x 365 = 10,950 Smoke Days. Quit time of 4 months = 120 Quit Days. 120 Quit Days ÷ 10,950 Smoke Days = Quit Days % of just 1.096%, of the total time the smoker smoked. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smoking had a deep impact on us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. A lot of the physical damage can be repaired in a time period of about 10 years, but some of it can never be repaired - the damage is done !!! The mental, emotional, and spiritual damage can be repaired much quicker, since all of us at one time were never smokers. None of us started life with a cigarette in the mouth !!! We all know how to live life as non-smokers, we just need to remember how to do it again. And time is what is needed for that to happen. It is my experience working with others, that how quickly one becomes very comfortable in these 3 areas depends on the person and also their understanding of nicotine addiction. The more a person understands the process of separation from the active addiction, it seems to me the quicker the good comfort levels of being a non-smoker return. What is important to understand, is that the first year as a non-smoker will be spent confronting triggers, many of them that are seasonal. Once you arrive at your first year anniversary, most people can say that they are making very good progress adjusting to life as a non-smoker. Cristóbal Edited December 31, 2017 by Cristóbal 1

RED FLAG ALERT !!! You have said things that are stunning examples of bargaining with your addiction and 'romancing the cigarette'. This can only bring disaster. "cause I thought they looked really cool" "I want to try different brands, see if they are as pleasurable as the ads said." " Eve was my brand, I still love her" "... look over cigarette displays to see what they had." "Well shoot, I prolly could have smoked another 25 years and been OK". You cannot bargain with addiction. Either you feed it or starve it into oblivion and romancing is psychologically serving up a banquet. You need to stop it. You are torturing yourself and giving your addiction more power, more opportunities to keep you enslaved. I don't understand this statement. "I am not one for pledges and promises. It is like apathy." Do you mean pledges and promises are like apathy to you? If this is what you mean (forgive me if I have misunderstood) you need to acknowledge that pledges and promises are merely tools to help fight a deadly addiction. Making the commitment to myself to never lighting up another cigarette EVER and NOPE-ing publicly for a few years gave me strength and extra motivation when I needed it. This completely surprised me...I had always been an adamant commitment-phobe. Funny, how one grows and changes. So, stand firm, don't vandalize your quit, protect it. Start to consciously replace junkie thoughts with life affirming thoughts or thoughts about things that turn you on. This will encourage your endorphins to serve you instead of being gangstered by addiction. To answer your heading, what to realistically expect ? In short time, with intent and focus, your head will be free from smokey thoughts .

These little vids helped me. When I first quit, I really wanted to know how long this was going to take. I didn't understand about addiction but, as time went on....as time goes on I understand more about the journey and as long as I stand strong with NOPE, I need never be a junkie again. So, please. you beautiful smoke free creatures, have patience and determination. You will be rewarded with a myriad of delights.

This is a great post, Sslip. Your honesty is appreciated and will be extremely useful to others in the struggle. You are doing Great. Keep on the good foot. I remember thoughts about smoking or about not smoking nearly did my head in for months. MONTHS ! but, it didn't kill me. Screaming showers helped and a mantra out loud of , "FREE YOUR HEAD" (often 'free your fcuking head ') Addiction is madness. I can assure you that it will get better, of course, I can't tell you when...just that it DOES get better. Your brain will begin to accept that you don't smoke anymore, you will hardly notice when days, then weeks, then months go by and you are free of smokey thoughts. Someday, and it really won't be that long, you will reap many, many more rewards and smoking will be a vague memory, I promise. So, hang in there. Hang on by your fingernails if need be and power through. Don't ever doubt...YOU WILL WIN. You are still early in your quit...protect it with everything you've got and keep your eye on the prize. Keep posting, for your own sanity and you never know who is out there that needs to hear your words. NOPE NOPE and NOPE-ly yours, S

It could be tougher this time....it could be easier. The best scenario is that it will be your LAST time going through this so, power through Opah, power through.

bump and HERE is a great post Nancy found

Please know that many are here to cheer you on, Fab. Stay close, you will power through this. Nancy just posted a great post here and here is another post that includes some of our experiences about No Man's Land.

Spring here in the air, pollen making my eyes itch. Should I cut off blooms ? Will the sneezing help ? Jasmine and Sweet Viburnum line my sinuses. Snow snow snow for you. How wearisome to shovel Through March...through April ?