jillar

Hi Shellee, welcome aboard, here is the post I believe you're looking for. I highlighted it on my Pick of the Week blog: https://www.quittrain.com/blogs/entry/1082-no-mans-land/ Just FYI we have a search engine in the upper right hand side that will allow you to search for anything you're interested in.

DenaliBlues Quit Date: 2/10/2022 Posted March 2, 2022 Congrats on completing day one @JustinHoot99! And thanks for raising the topic of action. I can relate. A fiendishly clever aspect of my addiction is how it takes habituated behaviors + emotions + physical/chemical dependence and ratchets them into a really tight knot that seems impossible to untangle. As I start to pry those strands apart, I find that each one wants to smoke for different reasons. Each one has the power to sabotage my quit. I suspect that each part of my addiction needs its own attention, reprogramming and healing. Thinking about my behavioral habits or my “action” strand: until not smoking becomes my baseline (which I am months and miles away from) I need substitutes. The vacuum of not smoking is just too much to deal with. Also, at this stage in my withdrawal the reward centers in my brain are still pretty fried and screwed up, so things designed to make me feel good - taking a walk, breathing deeply, noshing on snacks, etc. – can irritate the bejezus out of me, instead. Depending on my mood. A new coping mechanism I started this week is a “Mini Honey Do” list of small tasks that need doing around the house. Nothing arduous or time consuming, or else I’ll procrastinate and it won’t help me combat an immediate craving. Simple stuff that can be done in 15 minutes or less, things I know I can’t fail at. Tighten the loose screws on the recycling cabinet door. Scrape whatever that sticky goo is off the laundry room window. Change the light bulb that’s been flickering in the bathroom. Swap out the HVAC air filter. I have to write these down because when I am stressed or sunk emotionally, my mind goes weirdly blank. I’m so used to meeting that moment by smoking that it’s hard to remember or imagine doing anything else. So I get up, look at the list, pick something, do it, and cross it off. It feels sort of silly, but it’s better than picking up a smoke. It adds a little novelty to my coping routine. And there’s the silver lining of stuff getting done around the house… Ditto on your comment about writing here being helpful, too. Reading your post and responding helped me ride out a nasty crave wave this morning, so thanks! Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/17681-giving-up-my-car-for-3-weeks-this-time/#findComment-466935

Congratulations @despair not on your awesome quit and thank you for all the support you've given all these years. I hope you have a great day!

^^LOVE THIS ^^ totally agree!

For me it was 100%.

Sorry to hear your site is down. You're all welcome here to use our daily NOPE thread. We have a whole forum just for it. And for those of you newly quit there is a ton of information about our addiction as well as tips to help you along your way on the main forum so check it out too

Genecanuck Quit Date: August 19, 2024 Posted August 27 The Bare Facts About Relapse From joyinca Nicotine Users Are Drug Addicts, And Therefore Are Subject To All Of The Rules Of Drug Addiction The very first cigarette you smoked started you down the road to addiction. You arrived without knowing where you were going. Now you know. You have joined the millions of nicotine users who are and will always be drug addicts. There is no changing this fact, and the only thing you can do now is to learn to control your response to your addictive impulses. Luckily learning to be a quitter can be done, as attested to by the millions of people that have gained their Independence from smoking. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse Won't Happen Unless You Put Nicotine Into Your Body Once you have become a quitter you begin to condition yourself to being an ex-smoker. Each hour and day brings you closer to total comfort. But first you must learn to function in situations that would have formerly called for smoking. After getting through the initial few days, and getting the nicotine out of your system, you may begin to worry that after all of this effort you might end up relapsing. There is only one way that you can possibly relapse, and you have complete control over it. As long as you keep in mind that you are a nicotine addict, subject to the laws of addiction, and that you can never put nicotine into your system again, and therefore do not take a puff, you will not relapse. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse is the result of awakening your addiction While you are learning to be an ex-smoker you may find yourself thinking that you must have a cigarette to cope with x, y, or z. When you find yourself thinking this way you are having a bad case of Junkie Thinking. If you act on thoughts like this and start puffing, you have stepped onto the slippery slope of relapse. If you don't act on your junkie thoughts, but instead turn your focus to other things, notably your reasons for quitting, then you won't relapse. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions Relapse Will Happen If You Don't Acknowledge and Respect Your Addiction You must come to terms with the fact that you are a drug (nicotine) addict, and therefore as subject to the rules of addiction as any other type of drug addict. One puff is all it will take to put you back into the control of Ole Nic. The only way that you can keep your Independence is by admitting to the certainty that one puff will result in total relapse . This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Relapse Means Having To Start Over From The Beginning Once you awaken your addiction you loose all of the ground that you gained. You must begin again, that is if you are even able to bring yourself to do so. Most quitters that relapse spend months or years trying to get themselves to quit again. Some quitters that relapse are never able to try again, and die as smokers, plus frequently they die early because of their inability to break away from smoking. This rule is absolute, and there are no exceptions. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/26599-the-quitnet-lounge/#findComment-526993

Hi @QueenB, thanks for stopping by to celebrate your six year anniversary, that's awesome! Congratulations!!

Man @tocevoD I sure hope that the consultations work for you. You've been trying so long. I remember you quitting so your son would never remember you as a smoker and although he may remember it now he will also remember his dad WAS a smoker but isn't anymore. So let's do this ok?!

Welcome aboard Benjamin and congratulations on taking your freedom back! The insomnia is frustrating but will go away. I took an OTC sleep aid here and there and that helped. You'll find tons of useful tips and information on our addiction so look around. The pinned threads at the top of each forum are a good place to start.

Cristóbal Quit Date: 14 October 2012 Posted January 14, 2017 (First Posted 01 April 2014) A crave can happen because of 2 things: 1. Physical Withdrawl Symptoms. 2. Mental or Emotional Smoking Triggers. Craves can happen frequently early in our quits, because of physical withdrawl symptoms. They can also happen simultaneously with physical cravings and then later in our quits, much less frequently, as we continue to confront triggers which are mental or emotional in nature. The important thing to remember, is that craves are *NEVER* a command !!! You N.T.A.P. them (apply to them the concept of Never.Take.Another.Puff.....just for today) as they happen. Then what happens ??? Nothing. Absolutely.......*NOTHING* !!! Your head does not explode when you say "NO" to a crave. You will not die. Life will continue, and the sun will continue to rise every day.....and so will you....and the crave will be gone and soon forgotten. At the same time, you re-program you brain and emotions to react to life as a non-smoker again. Craves create F.E.A.R. in your mind and emotions, but it is a false fear. F.E.A.R. = False.Expectations.Appearing.Real. In the case of smoking, the expectations that some horrible thing may happen if you do not yield to the crave, are ***FALSE***. The fear that craves create can appear real, if you give them life and continue to believe lies the addiction may tell you, and can seem like a command at the moment they come to you. But the reality of this fear, is that it is a fear based on lies. This fear generates a false command....a empty command, based on the lies of a addiction that has no intelligence, is in every way illogical, and exists only as a ghost in your brain. If you do nothing when you experience a crave.....nothing happens. Ever. A crave based on illogical F.E.A.R. - False.Expectations.Appearing.Real.....is never a command. Do not listen to the nonsensensical illogical lies the addiction may tell you. Instead, N.T.A.P. these craves, and N.T.A.P. your way to the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual freedom you so desparately want. Cristóbal Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/7946-a-crave-is-never-a-command/

jillar Quit Date: May 29, 2016 Posted May 18, 2018 Why is quitting So hard by jwg » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:01 pm So that is the question , why is quitting so hard ? I think there is only one reason quitting it so hard to do Or maybe two reasons , at most three to five ,, less then ten for sure.. Sadly I don’t think most here will agree with me nor will they aperciate my opion , and that really all this. My opion . A view from my porch and from my experiences , nothing more So there that’s the warning , take it with a grain of salt The reasons quitting is hard to do First off its hard because ,, You want it to be! And yes I think that is true most people want quitting to be the hardest thing thay have ever done in there life,,,WHY ? So they can then justify in there mind why on earth they smoked for so long,, after all if quitting was “easy” they would feel like quite the heal for not quitting years ago. So in order to live with them self in a balance of peace , quitting must then be difficult. Plus with quitting being so hard to do, it gives the quitter a boost in there personal moral on how “hard” they fought and won .. The quitter wants quitting to be hard to do , so they do not have to Accept loved ones could have prevented there suffering and death if they could have easily quit. And then there is the aspect of quitting is “so hard to do” because they have been told it was for years , and like the sentence above , have even been to the funerals that proved this to be true. If you want to quit smoking and fit in with others who quit smoking , then by god you have to suffer threw it just like they did too. After all no one gets a free pass when it comes to quitting smoking ,, “The hardest thing in the world to do” Well to each there own , but it all honesty . to stop smoking is not that hard to do it at all , In fact NO ONE that ever really wanted to Quit Smoking has ever failed.. To stop smoking dose not cause pain , where as healing from most other things in fact dose , A sun burn carries with it much greater pain then any one ever suffered to stop smoking. Mentally, a spelling test is harder then it is to quit smoking .. And lastly, why quitting is so hard to do ? , because before most ever start they go into already granting them selfs permission to fail. And then this failure only dose one thing , grants them permission once more , So this goes back to my point , quitting is only hard because most just want it that way. But I know first hand , that dose not have to be the way it is and in fact if focused on the rewards vs the discomforts , quitting hands down is the easiest thing any one has ever done for them selfs If smoking is a temp pleasure with long term consequences Then to stop is is temp discomfort with long term benefits Break the cycle , evaluate your quit honestly with out the desire for it to be “so hard” and not only will you see it is not as you have been lead to believe , but too you will learn to enjoy the process of becoming free to do all the things you once sat around and labeled “one of these days” 'jwg' Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/10421-why-is-quitting-so-hard-repost-by-jwg/

2. Climb over it

LOVE it!! Congratulations @Kdad, you're doing great. I also get a thought to smoke pop into my head. I stop short of calling it a crave because it has no power when it comes.

2. make wontons