Still winning

Just want to add we are happy to chat even if you are still smoking, even if there's no quit date set. Come in, chat, pick our brains. Worst that can happen is we are no help and nothing has changed...the best...well that's been done before and it's called breaking the chains that bind you! No harm done either way, nothing to lose have you... xx

Pretty frikkin delighted to see how happy you are in this quit. Just shrugged off being a smoker and embraced a new life, love it!! Massive congrats on 3 weeks Sammie, good going!! Have no doubts the celebrations will keep coming for you. Boom!! x

So pleased for you, and holding on through really real stress too, shows it's never the smoking but the dealing with stuff that resolves stress...epic win my friend! Massive congrats for the quarter!! You know the plan, Nope, marching, lets do this thing!! xx

Mason, you held on and Nope'd like a goodun - super chuffed for you!! Did your wife quit in the end or not quite yet? Massive congrats on your first quarter!!! 3 months of freedom :)

Nope from me. History indeed!! Might even save having to scroll to the end of every sodding form online to find whether you're united kingdom or britain too lol.

PS Proper miss baffled, she was my hero! :(

Tetley tea, wash your mouth out - those mericans have done you in!! When did you end up paup class? Meh, coffee swilling I bet *nods wisely* *drinks yorkshire tea*. Sorry folks, where's the lost ones at??

Shhh, I feel ok *looks left and right for the easy peasy crew* haha. I don't smoke, 6 other people don't smoke now because I showed it could be done. Of course they were considering it anyway, isn't every smoker considering quitting. Where I am today is where I could only dream of being before and I fully respect that and hold onto it. Things have really been getting to me lately. I have felt massively overwhelmed, as such some of my posts might have seemed a bit sad, that's life tho. I won't pretend to be something I'm not and I refuse to be fake. My support for the people here has been unwavering, of course it always will be. The rest of my life has seen yet another hermit month, where I regroup. I'm sure the swear thread has been fully utilized! Sometimes I wish the journey wasn't so hard, but it's only through the tough times of my life that true enlightenment or the next stage, whatever you call it, comes to light. I like that through the last month when I consider smoking it is easy to dismiss the thought. I mean I get the right royal hump I have the thoughts, but that mental baseball bat is dead handy! Getting some violence about this quittin malarky lol. I get what the easy crew are saying now. It isn't that quittin is a walk in the park, it's how you aim your mind. I fear I did this the hard way again, shocker!! So I stand (sit, it's been a long day!) and say this - henceforth, I am going to do all in my power to be happier. Aside from that, new plan, live my life the way I want too. At the risk of sounding like a dodgy song, I am what I am, like it or lump it. I have too much self worth to be trodden down now, too much confidence to be afraid of being judged. They can do what they want and say what they want. I am really ok. It's taken a while. And a few people. And a shedload of people telling me I am worthwhile. This here train will never know what they did for me and I will pay it forward with all I'm worth. In the interim I feel 6 months is a real turning point for me. I was waiting for it and I do defo feel calmer today then I did a week ago. Don't matter tho, no matter what I'm a non smoker :) Non smoker, sounds pretty cool to me. Missed my peace of 4 months, feel like it's ready to settle on me again and I'm more than ready. BOOM!!

Thanx Jac, love you beauty! x Chrys, I feel like such a let down, I've done nothing lol. Florida end of oct, then christmas, then do up the rest. Work in very slow progress :) Will update photos and defo follow your cream/silver plan. x

I suddenly thought of the poem I keep with me in times when I need to know my own strength. Invictus, william ernest henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Wondered if it could help. It gives me strength time and again when I feel a bit weak. xx

I am sorry your one year anni sees you facing this uncertain time. It is amazing what they can do with medication nowadays so concentrate on getting those tests done so you can carry on enjoying your smoke free life and happy anniversary anyway, who knows the place it would be today if you hadn't quit. Fingers crossed for speedy results my lovely. x

Don't listen, I loved week 3, it's gonna be FABULOUS :) But check you out with your shall I cut down, oh I'll quit then, shall I, tomoz you think? ok!! I adore you Nat. Such a strong mind to take all of that advice and turn into two weeks of freedom yourself!! You did this Nat, like a proud mother I am :) Massive congrats on your two weeks! Looking forward to celebrating many more milestone with you. x

Massive congrats to you, 1 year is totally amazing!! xx

Good work, like the nike slogan... just do it!! Jumping is the worst bit, that's done. Now we manage it and you post if you feel happy, sad, whatever. Until you're sick to the back teeth of us :) By the way, some responses won't resonate with you, some can be taken one of two ways...that's ok, not everyone works the same way, but no one here wants anything for you other than freedom!! So the pinned threads at the top of sections are great places to start. whyquit.com is as crucial to my quit, have a nose at it. Spend some time in the social section here, sometimes you just don't want to think cigs or rather no cigs but you do still crave distraction and that's just the place. x

I don't have the right words for this, I don't think there are right words. Being abused in any way, is an awful experience. You are stronger then you realize today, but one day I'm hopeful you will see how far you came that day you stood and said no more. To quit smoking at the same time was epic! Hug those friends too tight, and us. All good my lovely ((sarah)). Love you lovely lady. x

At the risk of angering the easy peasy brigade :) I totally think I went through this. But I agree it's just giving it a name, in other words it's phases of not smoking. 6 weeks - went bat shizzle, totally prompted by forever fear! Posted, big save, phew! Month 2 - this foot that foot. All felt a bit ploddy, no excitement, no real drama. Missed my brass band and wondered where they had trailed off too when I still thought about smoking all the time. Verbally threatened Joel on the laptop many times with his (in my mind at the time) divvy assessment of two smoking thoughts per day. Pfft.. classic over achieving yet again by me!! Or dramatic, could be either. I was not comfortably happy but I was not smoking. Month 3 - Oh how I hated thee. wanna smoke, don't smoke, wanna smoke, don't smoke - WANNA - DONT DO IT...went on for a month for me because I refused to acknowledge it. Made my quit stronger though! Never felt the need to SOS, knew I wouldn't smoke, got real annoyed my own brain was tryna catch me out - what's that about?! I call it the rinse and repeat month now, seems to be common. Month 4 was bliss :) All peace and flower power of quitting, sooo lovely. Month 5 was a bundle of stress. But life is pretty tough month 5, so life or quitting...think that one was life tbh. Lots of "previously I would smoke here" thoughts but nothing more sinister then that. Month 6 where I am now, seems calmer but only a week in lol. I do have thoughts of smoking, it seems the quicker I dismiss them as not a possibility (smoking is not o the table) then I can move on. Just occasionaly the thought lingers and I have to mentally bop myself over the head :) I think the trick is to post and the guys are right about that. Especially month 2 and 3 I used to really over think what I could post about, just to post and get some feedback. In the same time period I started to exercise, somewhat unhappily and prompted mainly by weight gain (damn you peanuts). But actually, that was a major win, exercise I found not only dismissed the thoughts, I didn't think about smoking during and it gave me some form of happy vibe that I had missed a lot. Maybe an endorphin thing?? All of the above just made me hold tighter to my quit. Sometime in that time frame I posted something to the effect of, I know my quit is safe because I'm never going to be able to do week 1 or some of these days again. I held to that. No matter how much it sucked, if I just held on I would never have to face that day, that trigger, that time again! x

No matter what... NOPE, just for today! Nothing to fear from NOPE, lots to fear from being a smoker! Happy hump day all :) x

Missed this, sorry. Congrats on 11 months!! x

hello?

Wouldn't it be fabulous if there was something to say. If you didn't sit there thinking "oooooo, gradual torture" how great for you! I'm with Crys. It kills me to do it and to say it, but I praise even the thought of quitting. I tell them I think it's a brilliant first step towards their quit but it was too hard for me to maintain, I found quitting easier then cutting down....and if they bite, great, if they don't.... look at you all cutting down (never call it quitting!) and stuff, good job. Then move the conversation on. Smokers think all ex smokers are reformed wombats and will never listen, until they are ready to hear at which point they will ask how. xx

This post confuses me. I'm not sure I can be any help to you but I will try to help you understand where from the outside looking in it would seem you have holes in your quit plan. You don't understand how it can go well, then not - easy, we are nicotine addicts. We will ALWAYS be nicotine addicts who choose not to practise as non smokers. You will never undo having been a smoker. However, you can make a conscious choice to not smoke. The more you do that, the less you think about smoking and the easier it is to dismiss the thoughts. It ends up being a fleeting thought of "oh, I used to smoke here, will I, duh, no I don't smoke" and your day continues. Rewards for not smoking by smoking?? All I got for you is that seems a bit counter productive and I'm confused by it. Closet smoking, yeah I done that a lot, sympathies. Sucks to be a smoker, sucks to be a liar, I never liked being either, sympathies honestly, but still I and now you made that choice, at least acknowledge that for yourself. Finding yourself half way through a cig .... awww c'mon now.... i have relapsed in fairly epic style myself a number of times, most of my quits were only hours long. I have self congratulated at only smoking 2 or being just a social smoker - Never did I confuse myself and "come to" half way through a fag! I made a choice, to smoke or not to smoke, to scream NOPE or think F it - I always knew what I was doing. I literally say this as you need some more honesty for yourself, not for me, I quit and am on the road to recovery...my post here is literally saying stand and acknowledge that you made a choice otherwise you will always make excuses for yourself. That only hurts you hun, it matters that you give yourself the right tools and part of that is mindset! You are going to battle your own brain at times, you need to come from a mentally strong standpoint...not looks at that will ya, I'm halfway through a cig. I have a saying on my ticker...whether you think you can or think you can't... SOOO true in quitting! And life in general actually. I have helped a number of people change their mindsets S, it all amounts to this - you need to find your reason why not smoking is more important than smoking to you. Write a list of reasons, carry it with you, read it often. Read, 70 cancer causing agents in EACH cig, 2-4 or 40, it matters not! What if the next one you smoke is the lung cancer one, the copd one, the heart failure one, the needing a hysterectomy for cervical cancer cells one, the pulling teeth out one - all things that have happened to me and the two smokers I'm close to - 3 people ALL those illnesses from smoking. I may be able to add rhematoid arthritus soon, they are testing, I don't know how to spell it mate, but it hurts like hell at times and quitting never caused me an ounce of pain, just mental discomfort. How much do you want to play russian roulette with your body and health. NOPE, Post. I will honestly support you, so will others. But the best gift you can give yourself is self worth and honesty. Hope to see more from you. Let me know if I can help you in anyway. You absolutely can do this, anyone can do this, I promise that! It's a choice, choose NOPE. xx

I like lip gloss, pink with glittery bits is my fave but I have a more neutral that I wear more often :) Doesn't feel over gloopy but I don't wear it most of the time. Normal lipstick only when I'm going out out. x

Hi, late to the party, sorry DF. Yes, another, "that's normal" coming from me too. No mans land can feel like the rinse and repeat part of quitting. Odd days would feel like a bit of a mental assault, but I found a bad day was always followed by a good day. Some days it was easy, some days I clung on, other days you'll just feel tired of it all. BUT it does end!! I also found it helped to remember that whilst it felt hard today - it was nothing compared to the early quit where triggers were plentiful. Just a bad day, non smokers have those too. I hope today is fabulous for you. xx

3 weeks is fantastic!! I bet you feel SOOOO different today :) Utterly delighted for you, keep plodding and time mounts up behind you and it gets so you're seeing less triggers. Massive congrats. x