Still winning

Great work Kristin. 5 months is amazing :) x

Go Char!! Really pleased you've come so far. Great work, great quit. x

Go Jackie!! Massive congrats to you my sweet friend. Hope you could celebrate :) x

nope

nope

It feels kinda scary doesn't it...the what if land. What if we don't smoke - we'll find freedom What if we don't smoke - it will get to a place where it's just done and we live smoke free What if we don't smoke - and we start to learn, the triggers pass, everything passes What if we don't smoke - We realize while we were just coping, we learnt that we could achieve anything if we set our mind to it I could carry on with this, it's not exhaustive. It gets so much better. So do it, this foot that foot, do it. Add sparkle, this should be glittered as you go because it's a most wonderful thing you are achieving :) Be excited, great feelings are behind this coping. xx

Goodness, you shouldn't need meds every day for carpal tunnel. Why not try a steroid shot in your wrist, it makes it hurt more weirdly for 2/3 days and then it calms too blissful for a few months. Or operation..only a week recovery apparently? x

nope

Could be? No idea lol. I'm alternative in many ways and think of it as a positive energy exchange...but your way sounds very sciency and possible :)

FAB!! Bet that felt great :D . It's a really big step you took there too, another nail in the nicotine coffin! Talking our talk is very powerful generally. There is a train of thought that what you think and say, controls what happens to us, it makes sense. So you are reinforcing to the fog like smoker that not everyone has his addiction, but also to yourself and that's the fab bit. GO CPK!!

It's funny isn't it. When I quit I had a bunch of lighters ready to refill so I threw those and only had three left, now down to two. You're right that a girl needs scented candles :)

mornin, here with tea.

Hey tyme. I'm sorry the insomnia is bad right now. How are things generally? Is everything else "ok" and it's just the quit you feel? I don't mean it rudely, but a lot of times I assumed it was the quit but it was normal other life stuff... I blamed the quit for everything, but it transpired I had a lot of less than great people around me and I had to deal with that stuff too. Just me thinking out loud. xx

Yikes I grossly underestimated the number of chemicals... SOOOOO pleased they're gone so it's worth the journey.

Looking lush my nice mum :) I'm here again... with wine...

Hey Rob, Pleased you posted and no worries how long it took you. I just want you to be well. I read this from you and had some thoughts: This is a bit of a problem quit for me though. Since day #1 (of attempt #2), my heart hasn't really been in it, and I've just been supressing the cravings instead of dealing with them. Now, I find myself having huge cravings a lot of the time, wishing I could smoke, eating crap instead, putting on weight, etc etc. I want to smoke, so I think of something else; my not smoking is like a depressing auto-pilot at the moment. I even feel a lot of the time like I don't like the non-smoking version of me, and I miss the old me. I think the core of the problem is that I haven't properly mapped out my thinking about stopping smoking. I knew I enjoyed smoking when I stopped, so I thought the best tactic would be to just not think about it anymore. Now, it's been suppressed so long it's screaming louder than ever. It's exhausting. Of course I think you're planning a relapse, cause duh, you wanted to smoke and missed it and life wasn't the same without it, too hard, don't feel right etc etc. Erm you understand addiction right? You get it tries to give you excuses to justify the addiction. I'm gonna bring you a tough love reality check, Mum style because I actually do care. You were having a lovely time inhaling 400 plus chemicals and some nicotine that you are ADDICTED too into your lungs, do you even know what all those chemicals are Rob, the side effects, scary shiz!! All of the above is excuses and poor rationale my friend, understand that and you can start working with switching your thinking - live in denial and you will either struggle or fail. Now for my usual style. 6 weeks was a crippler for me butit passed, it was temporary. The addiction started knocking louder and I ended up in a crucial sos, exactly like you I wasn't sure I wanted it "enough" but the difference is I decided to accept whatever came so it was done. I wanted the money, the health and the freedom and I simply had to trust that people would never quit if they felt like this forever. In the meantime I set about some serious educating. I know a lotof people do the videos but I did whyquit. I read the horror stories of people who died young, I read their words and their families words! I tried to imagine telling those I loved that sorry mate, posioned myself by choice and now you all have to watch me die slowly and painfully! Because that was my reality, not the "oh I love smoking"...the secret is that bit is the illusion created by addiction. Read, whyquit, post, play games, NOPE, videos, allen carr, fake it till you make it...but don't give this shizzle head room Rob because you deserve more than that life could ever provide you. I want you where I am, you hear me! Planning for the 2nd set of seasons smoke free, easier, freer and still astounded monthly you're not a poor whore cause you spent all your moolah on smokes!! Start to believe you can do it and work your way towards that place one day at a time. This is your mission if you choose to accept it :) And much love because sometimes it plain sucks. xx

I agree with Bakon's sentiment too. It's all about the power you give those thoughts in your own head and once they hold no strength anymore because you've already fought them back a bunch of time, they just lose the power to take you. . Newer quits still remember the pull, the insistant banshee wail of a crave...the older your quit gets the quieter that noise gets.Then you just have to be wary of the odd trigger moment (the unusual ones that you haven't faced down, like season change, like holiday etc). I say this because I'd just get safe and peaceful and something odd would come and freak me the hell out. I'd be all what was that!! I did a 6 week sos like tyme, totally unexpected it was, thought I was safe if not ideally happy then it shook me. But the guys explained new triggers and building my own strength by fighting those stronger triggers. I never liked nicodemon, I called it what it was, I was addicted to nicotine and possibly some chemicals I knew nothing about! How scary is that, I have no idea still what I was smoking for 30 plus years really. Yet I did it, willingly! Outside, inside, pregnant and I am so ashamed in parts, like you say about your neighbours. We will never be that person again, now we understand we get to choose. Nope, all the way. xx

half a year - crushing it :) BOOM!! Brilliant work, massive congrats. xx

Great work Mike, 2 weeks is a solid quit in progress :) Massive congrats.

You beauty!! Pleased to celebrate with you. xx

beautiful new day...nope

It affects all of us so differently. BUT for sure none of us settled to a "new normal" for us for a while. Our dispositions add to this, as in who we already are so those super positive people fare better than over thinkers like me...where you fit in only you know, but I would re-assure you that this "fog" did lift for me and others and the only way to it was through. I also want to say it was the tough times of the journey that made me more determined to keep this quit safe and secure and built up a real belief in my inner strength to overcome things. It was a very welcome and unexpected quit benefit. x

I enjoyed reading this. Pleased there is more calm to come. It sounds idyllic to get to the nirvana where you can't remember yourself smoking. I also never realized till about 6 months quit that it would be a forever guarding moment. I understand that now and it no longer worries me. x

1 in 7 is scary numbers, I agree. I wanted to say something about the stage you are going through. Some call it no mans land, some just think it's a phase and shouldn't have a name at all, some notice nothing at all (lucky). For most though, there is a period of time where it becomes a plod rather than a march. It feels less "shiny" and "new" and a bit tiring that it's happening at all. It's only once you come out the other side that you really see how powerful this bit of the process is. It is building your resolve and your "no thanks" experience. You probably haven't noticed but you begin to have less of those thoughts that before, over the next month or so the power drops out of most of them if you let it. I once read something that said "quitting is a journey, not an event" and this is a big part of the strength building bit. Meantime, your self belief starts growing now! As you wearily some days or excitedly other days, say nope, you start to believe you can do this... and if you can do this... you're pretty damn strong and can do anything... I am saying this as for myself, this part of the journey was hard. Remember it's a phase. This too shall pass and all that jazz. Distractions will still absolutely help you and work. Make sure you are treating yourself, your quit still has just as much value, more even, than day 1. x

Thank goodness it didn't matter, had no idea about the clock change lol. Still nope.