Reciprocity

Yours is like my cat - bites first asks questions later!

12 My entire live is a holiday now that I'm retired. I'm just holidaying at home for the moment - lol.

Hey Garry! We are all special in our own way because we are who we are. Whether we were planned or not ..... who really knows? I don't know if I was or not either. I'm a June baby and sandwiched between twin sisters and a baby brother so I was kind of in no man's land as a kid. You know, that kid in the middle? Never cared much about that because I was OK with who I was and embraced life with as many others outside my family circle as I could. Glad to know you as a non smoker and I am happy you are here with the rest of us winners

12

ate

8 is Great Gabes! Congrats. Keep moving toward that 1 year mark

Nope!

That's a monster storm for sure. Get out of it's way sooner rather than later if you think you might be in it's path! Look at how it's affecting all the weather patterns around it too! That's a huge chunk of the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans that are seeing some sort of impact to weather patterns Stay safe Johnny! Hope you and all your folk fair OK through this storm

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Hope you celebrated your new milestone Matty! 5 months is fabulous

Congrats Rose! You are well on your way to being smoke free for life

Although I was firm in my commitment to myself never to smoke again right from the first, I think it was about 6 to 7 months in before I really knew I had turned the corner on this addiction and that I had faced pretty much every battle it could through at me. From that point forward I was somehow just more confident that I wouldn't waver in my commitment to quitting.

-1

Nope!

Remember that every time you do battle with this addiction that tries to keep you a slave to serving it's needs, you are breaking down your "smoker's brain" and laying the foundation for the rest of your non-smoking life. It does happen ..... a little at a time. Small battles in a big war

Wonderful accomplishment Diane! Way to go

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-5

-8 (going up anyone?)

Oh cool Sslip - Grand Canyon It's a fabulous place to see - enjoy!

I think you'll get answers that are all over the board Christine. Most will have multiple attempts and others manage to get it done first time, but those are in the minority I think. It really doesn't matter in the end as long as you keep trying until you find the right mindset to make it your permanent quit I think that mindset can be different for everyone and there's no one size fits all set of rules to follow to ensure a life long quit. I think education about this addiction is a key aspect along with personal commitment to improve your own life (health, finances, freedom from the slavery of addiction). Most everyone finds the combination and the right mindset eventually as long as they keep trying in earnest to quit. Remember, this quitting thing takes a lot of time and caring maintenance even after the early days of craves are pretty much over. We would all like it to be a much quicker process but it just is not. Years and years of conditioning our minds with smoking takes time to unravel.

Pigs are afraid of heights tho!

^^^^ You see Linda, these kind of responses are what makes this place so great! Jo is bang on here It's very unfortunate you have the issues with your parents that you do but smoking again would not help at all and in fact would make things even worse. My mother is turning 98 this November and lives on her own in a three story house. She should not be there - no question but .......... try and talk her into leaving!! Between my brother and I, we make it work but just barely. When you are quitting, frustration levels are off the charts which makes dealing with other frustrating life situations very difficult - no question, we are under a lot of stress when in our early quit days. Hang on and deal with your other life issues as best you can while protecting that beautiful quit. Maintaining your quit status is Job #1 in the grand scheme of things.

20!!

^^^ Hope things don't get too ugly for ya Johnny! Stay safe my friend