Still winning

4 months is amazing Rowly, so so pleased you got here :) Massive congrats on this fabulous quit. Much love. xx

Massive congrats for 2 months. It is a huge acheivement and testament to your strength to get 2 months under your belt. Hold fast now, the good bit is not far around the corner. xx

Congrats Renee, hope all is well my lovely. xx

Don't do tetley, full bodied my as*! Pfft. PG tips, good tea! I don't take sugar, I am more than sweet enough :) I do have milk tho, otherwise it's a bit much...unless you drink pee water tea like earl grey or breakfast tea.

I accidently parted with good wine via a nose snort at this comment... not cool Sonic. Someone's talking bondage and I'm missing it?? It's not you at the bloody DIY store again Bakon is it? It's bad enough in the undies shops! Ah the turquoise scarf...you never know quite when you'll need a scarf....haha.

This is the peace, you see glimpses of it now. Soon, this tide will start to turn and this will be your new normal, with an occassional trigger...moving onto a peace with an occassional thought. Remember this feeling through the hard times, this is where you are heading to. I love the term goddess of the quit. It almost feels like you believe your quit is supported and I like that for you. x

Hey Rob, Spot on how most of us thought. Agree with Babs, don't let the thinking get flipped back, but yes, even now the odd thought and it aggravates us all. At your stage I got angry with the thoughts, like that catherine tate sketch "how very dare you"...it's part of it and smoking will be less of a trigger each time you drink now. One day you will come home blotto and not have thought about it at all...even if smokers are there. You just feel sorry for the bad hangover they get when your's will be easier now you are a non smoker :) Brilliant work, facing the triggers give them less bite every time, even running away from them if it feels hard makes the next battle half fought. Great work Rob! x

Amazing work on 3 weeks!!! Nope'ing right with ya :)

Both parents smoked. My Dad left when I was almost 12 and quit at the same time (always reminds me of Sarah's story), my Mum got up to 60 per day and quits daily. She managed almost 2 months quit recently and is on about 20 a day again.

No need to be shy, you look like a real hottie in the little red and black number...

The dreams are your brains way of naturally processing a deeper level of information. So it's part of the early quit to have an upswing in them, I have no doubts they will calm down in a week or two back to what your previous normal was, the same with sleeping. I agree with Jackie, don't let it stress you out...just annoying as it is, it's part of the way your body and mind are healing. If any seem particularly repetitive you can always google dream meaning + "whatever the key feature was" and there is a lot of good information out there. The train is a great place to hang out while we become the person we were always meant to be :) MQ, and others here, write and share a number of great things to support us getting our thinking and education on nicotine addiction straight for us. It really helps.

I'm always in the whatever works is right category :) Good for you that you found something to carry you through!

No, not with others. To start I smoked alone 1 or 2 after school, to cope?? I had been stealing them on and off since I was 9 but this was my turning point where I became addicted I believe (I've had some time now to think on it). It was so normalised in our circle, only one person said something to my Mum who cared little as she really doesn't equate smoking with anything other than stress relief. Ironically she has COPD, high blood pressure and a broken heart valve, all requiring medication...but it's not worth quitting now because it's too late. So to answer the original thoughts I do think there's something in it. After all they say kids of abusive parents, drug addicted etc etc can often copy so smoking is normalized when I don't think it should be. It isn't the only reason people start, of course it isn't but it doesn't help at all.

Both my parents smoked, my Dad quit after he left...my mum quits daily! I do think it has a repercussion. No I don't "blame" them but I had access to cigs from a young age. When I started regularly smoking at age 12, my mother bought them for me and that continued until I was 16 and legal to buy my own. I thought she was being cool back then, now I think differently. My girls better pray to the powers that be that I never catch them smoking!

Hey Michelle and welcome. You feel jittery and really uneasy. It feels hard and youkeep thinking about smoking when you don't want to smoke... and stop, just breath it out for a minute. You are a non smoker today, non smokers don't smoke cigarettes. So what you need is a new plan. Maybe write a list of things you can do when a "trigger" hits you. Clean work surfaces. Suck air through a straw. Click your fingers. Jump from foot to foot shouting (or thinking) nope. Google some facts on something that interested you once but you never got round too. Etc etc. Basically you are focusing on the not smoking my lovely, maybe try just distracting your brain until the feeling gets less intense. If a trigger is a thought process of "I would have smoked here" then a newer thought of "but now I clean" can replace it quicker than getting cosy with a sad nostalgic feeling because that is not a true reflection of what you want. You quit because you don't want to smoke :) Write a list of reasons you quit, carry it with you and read it before you go shopping. One week is amazing work Michelle, congrats on your freedom. x

Starred out in my prime ***** ok, take tea advice from a "cat type" earl grey drinker....

Like a true english rose is gonna take tea advice from a ***** earl grey drinker :rolleyes: ...move along the bus ...next window for you ...said with love :D

The problem with all of this quitting is how differently everyone reacts. From physically to mentally. Re the cough tho I didn't have one after a few days (35-40 per day here) and then it came back after a month and it still hangs around a bit (I did get my lungs checked at around 3 months because of this but nothing there). So perhaps the cough is coming later but I hope not for your sake. I understand what you're saying. It can feel like you are repeatedly hitting yourself with the health hammer, like, why didn't I notice I was doing this andmaybe causing damage etc. The thing is, you've done the best thing medically by choosing to stop now. Concentrate on that for a while, 19 days is amazing! And yes, there isn't one, there is always a pack...so it's no longer an option. Be proud of how far you've come! Make sure you are being kind and gentle to yourself for a while, after all this whole time is you healing yourself and healing needs a bit of time and support. Make sure you plan in treating yourself too, nothing like seeing the fruits of your quitting labour to motivate you. x

Hi and welcome in :) It feels really strange doesn't it, the limbo feeling. So let me say you are a non smoker. There is no time limit, there is only smoker or non smoker, so you are already in the best choice of camp :) It can feel over whelming so slow it down for yourself, just today, don't smoke today and for today, find other things to do, get a plan in place so if you think smoking your next thought is something else. For instance, wake up, get coffee and start thinking cigarette but have prepared for this, so you wipe your kitchen work surfaces... it takes the sting out of the trigger. It's only our brains reminding us that we would have smoked here ...no harm in a thought...start getting new healthier thoughts. Exercise is a win. It releases natural endorphins, the feel good feelings and youwill notice such an improved rate of breathing and energy coming up that it makes me excited for you! Welcome again. xx

Pleased to hear today feels more positive. It does seem after a tough day, we give ourselves an easier day...it helps to remember that. It also helps to treat yourself to nice things. It can be a magazine, or a scented candle if costs are tough. I always liked something I could see/smell. One woman bought herself a new phone, I thought that was pretty cool. Doesn't matter what it is, the point is you should reward yourself so when it feels good or bad, you can say, see what I was able to buy instead. Plus, you're fabulous for quitting and fabulous people deserve treats :)

At the risk of sounding greedy... your food always looks awesome pippa but it's such a small amount?? Do you eat little and often instead of main meals?? I'm worried you'll be fading away over there....

24 is great actually, I loved that. Chris is watching house, it's a medical series, looks good. I'm watching Vikings, dunno if that's on netflix tho as izzy wizzy stuff happens and the man makes it appear on the tv screen. That's awesome! Assuming you did game of thrones, disturbing but great. I tried breaking bad and am it's only failure so far, but I ditched SOA too so I just don't care lol. Wonder if lost girl is on netflix, that's a great otherworldly one, light enough but fun. Not bad for a girl who mostly watches how to build a house tv :)

nope.

Has anybody told you lately that you are simply amazing!! You have quit smoking, you are officially a non smoker, woohoo!!! :D As to how you feel. Quitting is a tough but worth it gig, I promise. I want to take a moment to share my post back on day 21: I am up and down like a yoyo today. I am genuinely sorry too, I accidently misunderstood and upset someone on here today, and I'm now too worried to respond to any other threads in case I'm just "off kilter". Nothing really to say apart from wow, managing these emotions is really really hard. I feel like a mess the last few days and don't know how to shake it. One minute I'm fine, next minute I'm not. I'm sure it's wrong to say this but I miss having something that gave me space! I do not want or need to smoke but how I'm ever going to get a grip now I don't is beyond me! It felt like a tough gig. All of us only stayed quit because we knew one thing, if it stayed like this forever then no one would quit right? They can't all have been sadists was all I came up with! So we hold on and yes, totally be proud of how far you have come... Who knows why it happens but someone (sorry, no idea who, maybe Markus?) said we have to find our new normal. But before that can occur we need to shift all the chemicals, not just the nicotine. Perhaps at some stages we simply cry it out? One thing I can honestly say for sure, after the emotions came a strength, an inner strength of purpose that it would be ok...it was, it is ok. It's great now. I have no idea if this is coming out right...I want to say don't be afraid of this stage, it's a growth part of the quit and is as valid as shifting the nicotine. It builds our resolve, our strength of charecter gets a boost and bam...it get's a bit easier again! Also never forget the good stuff. How much clearer is your breathing. Now you can sleep again, your energy levels will raise. You will need less sleep to feel more rested than you ever have before. Absolutely marvellous things start to happen. Yes there are emotional days and days you wish could be easier...but that's life right. You start to learn that too. People told me to embrace the suck of it, the bad bits...that strength can be gained by squaring your shoulders and saying "yeah trigger, bring it, you can't have me". The more you do that, the easier it gets to knock those thoughts out and the more good moments you have. So I think you're amazing! I think you are doing the absolutely best thing you can do, it's a true gift you're giving yourself and even if it needs a bit more time, it does get easier and you will be eternally grateful that you held on later. No romancing, that helps no one, just distract yourself, move yourself forward, remember why you are not a smoker...why you CHOSE non smoker and keep marching. You're doing grand!! x

nope