jillar

6. Take the ink blot test

Congratulations @Mee, I can't believe its six years quit already! That's fantastic I'm so glad you're back. We missed you

4. Write on the bathroom wall

2. Cheat on a test

9. Sail around the world

Yay @tocevoD, I'm so glad that worked for you. ☺

Repost by Craig I get sad whenever I read about someone that relapses after rocking an awesome quit for weeks or months. I quit smoking 290 days ago and I'm extremely confident I'll never smoke again. Things were a little different on day 142 though. That's the day I almost smoked a cigarette..... Quote Day 142. I have been romanticizing the cigarette for about a week now. I've been daydreaming about the simple joy of holding a cigarette between my fingers, the wonderful tobacco smell of a freshly opened pack, and the feeling of euphoria when taking that first drag. Mmmm....just thinking about it makes my pulse quicken in glorious anticipation. W. T. F. This is day 142! I'm "this close" to 5 months. 6 months (HALF A YEAR!) is within spitting distance. How the hell could I let myself get so damn complacent that I'm having thoughts like this? For the most part, my quit has been on auto-pilot for the last couple of months. I stopped actively "quitting" a long time ago. I didn't feel the need, or desire, to spend hours a day reading/posting about nicotine addiction like I did the first several weeks of my quit. I've lost my motivation and I'm tired of fighting. THAT right there scares the crap out of me. I do NOT want to be a smoker again. I will NOT be a smoker again. I REFUSE to be a smoker again. It is time to fix this thing and get my head back in this quit. During the early days of a new quit everything is so exciting. You are doing a Good Thing and it's AWESOME! YOU are AWESOME! Loved ones shower you with praise! Strangers on the internet tell you how wonderful you are! You can suddenly smell and taste All The Things! People at work give you high fives and fist bumps! There are parades in your honor! The mayor gives you the key to the city! TMZ hounds you for an interview! Life is FREAKING AMAZING!!! And then, a few weeks or months later…..things change. Family and friends begin treating you the way they did before you quit. No more high fives. No more fist bumps. No one asks about your quit anymore. Even the paparazzi stop following you around. This “thing” (your quit) isn't fun anymore. Yeah, it’s gotten a lot easier to not smoke but you still sometimes get cravings from hell and you are SO TIRED of fighting. So tired. You feel lonely. You start to hear whispers in your head. It's a voice you thought you silenced a while ago. “Why don’t you just smoke one? It will taste and feel so good. You know you can quit anytime you want.” (My Inner Junkie has a seductive bedroom voice like Barry White and looks like a more sinister version of Wile E. Coyote. Stop judging me!) Relapse was a very real option for me on day 142 (I'm on day 290 now). I am VERY thankful that I turned things around before it was too late. Some folks don’t. They smoke a cigarette and then a beautiful quit is lost…up in smoke. I am only posting this to remind everyone, myself included, that we can never let our guards down. I KNOW why I got close to relapse. The reasons are as plain as day to me now: 1. I stopped educating myself about my addiction. 2. I greatly decreased the time I spent on this site because I didn't think I needed a support group any longer. 3. I let a small seed of negative thought (daydreaming of smoking a cigarette) grow until it became a Really Bad Thing. 4. I fooled myself into thinking I wasn't an addict any more. What did I do to get my quit back on track? 1. I re-read all the newbie info here and at whyquit.com 2. I read Allen Carr’s book. (I read a little bit each day over the course of a couple of months. It was a good daily dose of inspiration.) 3. I recommitted to spending time on this site reading and helping out where I could. 4. I admitted to myself that I was always going to be an addict. I can NEVER become complacent again. 5. I stopped random smoking thoughts IMMEDIATELY whenever I realized what I was thinking about. Have you come close to relapsing? What did you do to avoid it? Have you relapsed after a weeks or months long quit? If so, why did it happen and what are you doing now to make sure it doesn't happen again? Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/11744-dont-ever-let-your-guard-down-repost-by-craig/

We're having that kind of weather too except our nearest beach is about 30 miles away. We had a bit of a heatwave come through but it cooled down today. Have a great weekend

Woohoo @Stewbum, you did it! It may have taken a few years longer but you're on the lido deck and I'm so proud of you You've faced so many challenges during your quit and you still held your ground and said NOPE, something to be very proud of my friend

Congratulations @Paul723 on your awesome eleven year quit And thank you for staying around to support everyone. I hope you have a great day!

Welcome aboard @Sportsfan66, our forum members have all been where you were and we can give you the support and encouragement you need to get your forever quit. We have a ton of information about our addiction as well as a video forum if that's more your thing. The Daily NOPE is the promise you make yourself that just for that day you won't use nicotine. I did it the whole first year of my quit. So look around, stick close. We find that members who check in daily have a much better success rate thus our One Year Commitment thread pinned to the top of main forum ☺

@QuittingGirl, I've seen Santana twice, they are so good, great concerts both of them

Nancy Quit Date: 07/07/2013 Posted September 17, 2014 I found this online, here. A message from your body. (Repost) By tahoehal on November 03 2007 at 4:39 pm Insert your own name ......... and days of being smoke free x. Dear .......... It has been x days since you have quit smoking. You probably don't recognize me since you have been real busy for about x years. I am your body and I wanted to have a conversation with you. There are some things I need to tell you and share with you. You may need them now that you are recovering and I for the first time can express them. I am your lungs, your heart, your eyes, your liver, your blood, your skin and your mind. For x years, ......., you have been smoking and I have been unable to talk to you. It's not that there were times when I did not try, because I did. I sent you all sorts of signals to let you know I wanted to talk to you and you were not able to hear me. You passed it off as a morning cough or dizziness and whatever you were doing for all those years was too strong for me to fight. I have been waiting for this conversation with you for years. I must first tell you that we don't miss the smoke you filled us with. There were days when you were out, having a good time in the summer sun and I was too. I like the warm air and I even like the sun. But, ........, even on those wonderful days you would take the time to fill my lungs with smoke, my blood with carbon monoxide and my brain with nicotine. Every time I thought things were getting better and I was ready to talk to you there would be a burst of all these chemicals and I had to spend all of my energy, and YOUR energy, ......., on trying to keep you alive. I think you get the point now and I don't want to sound critical although I may have come off that way. What I really need to tell you is that for the past x days I have been working hard with the rest of your body ,to heal from a lot of years of neglect. I guess I want to say THANK YOU. Thank you, ......., for having the courage and the strength to quit smoking. If you have ever done anything right for me, by not smoking you have given me a new life. I need to tell you that it will take time for me to heal. You know how long you smoked, ........ It will take a bit of time to work with the lungs and the brain and the heart but IT WILL HAPPEN. Every cell in your body congratulates you... .... I need to warn you about something. One of the drugs that the brain thought it liked was Nicotine. That's a bad drug. It fooled me into thinking that I needed it. I never picked up a cigarette in my life and you made me addicted to Nicotine. Hey, I know it was not your fault! But there will be some difficulty the next few days and months. I, too, became addicted to that drug and it will take some time before I get rid of that. But I have a promise that I want to give you now that I can talk to you. If you promise to not smoke and to give this your very best shot, and I know how hard it is for you, I will reward you with more than great health, ........... And in time you will not only feel better but I will give you something that you thought you lost a long time ago. Remember your self-esteem and your image? Well I know who you are and I want you to know that I LOVE YOU. In time you will feel better and be so proud of what you accomplished-This I promise you. By the way! In this process of getting better we will be doing a lot of work inside. So please feed me and water me like you would if you were taking care of a beautiful Rose. It's time that you started to look after yourself with love, understanding and compassion as well; we like that too. Everything you give to me during this process I will reward you with tenfold. I believe in you, ....... I AM YOU. I KNOW you can do this. I don't want to have to wait another x years to have this conversation with you. Know that I love you and know that it is unconditional. It seem at times like I am working against you but know that I am working with you, .........., to heal US. Just for Today, ......., please do not smoke. Thank you for listening to me. I love you! Sincerely, Your lungs, heart, liver, blood, mind and skin and every living cell in you. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/2707-a-message-from-your-body/

Well shoot Stew, I hope you guys feel better soon! Glad you have each other to keep company AND your sis will be here for your big one year anniversary maybe

Oh no Stew, that sucks!

Hi @Mee, I'm so glad to see you! I was just thinking about you the other day I here you about how quickly the day goes once you stop working. I do that noon thing daily lol. I hope you do decide to stick around, we've missed you!

5. Boil it for pasta

3. Fill the pond

1. Drink it

notsmokinjo Quit Date: 28/11/2017 Posted March 3, 2020 I know there are a few threads already about the unexpected gains we got from quitting BUT I'm too lazy to go hunting, besides when ya do you tend to fall down a rabbit hole of rereading some bloody good posts...well I do..anywho ..was reading an old post and it got me thinking (no it did not hurt)... Did quitting change who I am? Has it opened life opportunities that weren't there previously? Yes quitting made me different I'm now a nonsmoker. But it also made me different in other ways...and I think to some extent that evolution is still happening. I mean we spend our whole existence changing and evolving but I defo reckon that quitting spun me into a completely different trajectory...and ya know wot?, It ain't half bad. I see lots of peeps post between months 3-7 of their quit...it's made me different...it's changed who I am...yep...it does...and looking back over all the characters I've met here on the train it's true for all of us...some it's softened the hard edges of, some it's toughened up...some it's allowed to grow up..and some it has allowed us let go. Noone has escaped. Ok so I'm 2+ years in and in some ways im still settling into my new skin...but I am different and I'm better for it, my life is better for it, in many, many ways...ways that had I still been smoking it certainly wouldn't be. I kinda reckon the triggers you go through in ya quit are the lessons you need to master...for me it was all the emotional stuff from growing up that when it'd touch the surface I'd chase away with a durry...that was gone so I had to deal...and it may be takingbme a fair wack of time to do so but I have learnt I am worthwhile just the way I am and if someone else doesn't think so it's no skin off my nose an it's their loss. I've quit suppressing me and all my crazy...nerdy...oddness cos let me tell you, you don't like it then keep on movin mate cos your opinion of me doesn't define me. Quitting smoking gave me that. So the point is newbies an inbetweenies...don't be scared of the changes ..embrace them...grow...because you will still be you..just different..and that is good. Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/13620-same-same-but-different/

Glad to hear from you @LoriB and congrats on almost two months quit, that's awesome!

Hey @tocevoD, maybe you should try coming here BEFORE you go buy smokes so we can try to help you past that initial crave because as you know, once you get past it it becomes less powerful. You can say to yourself the next time that you made it through before and you'll make it through again. Have you tried the daily NOPE thread? That worked so well for so many of us. Its a commitment to yourself that you won't smoke for that day. I did it everyday for a whole year, maybe give that a try?

Sazerac Members 14.3k Quit Date: October 23, 2013, A Good Day to be Free. Posted February 6, 2020 Butt Emissions: Study Finds Even Extinguished Cigarettes Give Off Toxins January 29, 2020 This specially built smoking machine was used by NIST scientists to measure the emissions that come off cigarette butts long after they've been extinguished. Cigarette butts pile up in parks, beaches, streets and bus stops, places where all types of littering are frowned upon. An estimated more than five trillion butts are generated by smokers worldwide each year, and concern about their environmental impact has prompted studies of how they affect water and wildlife habitats. But despite their prevalence, almost no one has studied the airborne emissions coming off these tiny bits of trash. When Dustin Poppendieck was asked to evaluate them, he was skeptical. As a measurement scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) he realized there was no standard way of analyzing the amounts of chemicals swirling in the air around cigarettes hours and days after they’d been put out, and he was intrigued. But he also thought there might not be enough chemicals present to make the measurements meaningful. What his team found, however, was that a used butt — one that is cold to the touch — can in one day give off the equivalent of up to 14% of the nicotine that an actively burning cigarette emits. “I was absolutely surprised,” said Poppendieck. “The numbers are significant and could have important impacts when butts are disposed of indoors or in cars.” The NIST measurements were performed under an interagency agreement with the Food and Drug Administration as part of its analysis of the overall impact of cigarette smoking on people’s lives. For a long time, most of the health impacts of smoking were misunderstood and often underestimated, in part because the emissions of cigarettes had not been fully assessed. Measurements and epidemiological studies over the last 50 years have improved our understanding of the health impacts of tobacco. We now know a good deal about how cigarette smoking affects smokers’ own bodies as they inhale and exhale, referred to as mainstream smoking. Work has also been done to establish the health effects of secondhand smoke, which is the emissions from the end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar, and the smoke that is exhaled by smokers. NIST scientists have measured the airborne emissions we are exposed to once a cigarette butt has been “extinguished." More recently, research has also examined thirdhand exposure, which comes from the chemical residue that stays on surfaces such as walls, furniture, hair, clothing and toys after a cigarette has been extinguished. Like mainstream smoking and secondhand smoke, thirdhand exposure can increase the risk of cancers and cause numerous other health problems, especially in the still-developing bodies and brains of infants and children. The overall goal of the recent NIST study was to quantify the emissions from extinguished cigarettes and discover what happens to those emissions when the butts are left in different environments. Poppendieck’s team measured eight of the hundreds of chemicals typically emitted from cigarettes, including four that are on the FDA list of harmful and potentially harmful constituents. They also measured triacetin, a plasticizer often used to make filters stiff. Filters were added to cigarettes in the 1950s. While they do collect part of what comes off a burning cigarette, they don’t fully negate the exposure from inhaling tobacco smoke. Filters provide a kind of handle for cigarette users who want to avoid burning their lips or fingers, wasting tobacco, or having to pull stray tobacco bits off their tongues. Triacetin can make up as much as 10% of a filter, and its low volatility means it doesn’t evaporate quickly at normal temperatures, so it could be a good indicator of long-term emissions from a butt, Poppendieck explained. The question that Poppendieck and his team considered, therefore, was not the impact of filters on smokers themselves. Rather, they focused on emissions from discarded butts, which are largely just used filters. “If you have ever sat on a park bench when somebody next to you smoked, then they got up and left their cigarette butt behind, that odor you were smelling is indicative of what we are trying to capture and measure,” Poppendieck said. “Anyone with a good sense of smell knows it’s there.” The team had to “smoke” over 2,100 cigarettes, although the scientists didn’t actually light up and inhale. Instead Poppendieck’s team built a “smoking machine” that uses robotic movements to simulate what humans do when they light up. The machine was made to move air through each cigarette in the same way, to remove some potential variables associated with the behavior of actual smokers. Extinguished cigarettes were placed in a walk-in, stainless steel chamber in order to characterize airborne emissions. The team also tried to determine if environmental differences in temperature, humidity and saturation in water would change those emission rates. Cigarettes were carefully lit and "smoked" in a machine before being recorded in the lab at NIST. Most of the chemicals from the extinguished butts were emitted in the first 24 hours, Poppendieck noted. However, nicotine and triacetin concentrations were still about 50% of the initial level five days later. The team also found that butts emitted these chemicals at higher rates when the air temperature was higher. “The nicotine coming from a butt over seven days could be comparable to the nicotine emitted from mainstream and sidestream [secondhand or thirdhand] smoke during active smoking,” Poppendieck said. This means if you don’t empty an ashtray in your home for a week, the amount of nicotine exposure to nonsmokers could be double current estimates. Figuring out what to call these newly discovered and measured emissions has been challenging. In the lab, Poppendieck and his team refer to them loosely as “after smoke” or just butt emissions. No matter what terminology is used, the research team wants people to know that the chemicals remain long after the cigarette goes out. People have been asked to not throw their cigarettes out car windows, because it takes years for the butts to degrade. Poppendieck wants people to also know they can put used butts in sealable metal or glass jars with sand instead of leaving them out in the open. “You might think that by never smoking in your car when kids are present, you are protecting the nonsmokers or children around you,” Poppendieck said. “But if the ashtray in your hot car is full of butts that are emitting these chemicals, exposure is happening.” Papers: M. Gong, N. Daniels, D. Poppendieck. Measurement of chemical emission rates from cigarette butts into air. Indoor Air. Available online in preprint format on Jan. 18, 2020. DOI: 10.1111/ina.12648 D. Poppendieck, M. Gong, V. Pham. Influence of temperature, relative humidity, and water saturation on airborne emissions from cigarette butts. Science of the Total Environment. Available online Jan. 5, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.1364 Edited February 7, 2020 by Sazerac Link to original post: https://www.quittrain.com/topic/13529-cigarette-butt-emissions/