Kate18

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@Gus, good for you!  11 Months is awesome!!!

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Funny, out of the blue. The stressful weeks of my daughter and her family moving to Texas are past. I'm finally rid of the piles of bags and boxes of their discards that I'd simply dumped in my home, lining the walls and furniture, until I could sort them for donation or the dump. Got rid of the last of it.

Then I planted a small flower garden, and the daffodils are coming into bloom. Three days of tranquility. 

I awakened this morning in the middle of dreaming that I'd smoked. I was bewildered because I had no desire to smoke, didn't want to smoke, and I'd ruined my almost-two year quit. I'd have to reset my ticker, confess to the QT friends, and start over. Quelle nightmare!

I don't remember if I had thoughts to smoke during the stress of my daughter's move or not. Certainly I didn't after I'd restored the peace and quiet of my own home.

The mind is quirky, yes?

Have a great day, everyone.   

Holding good thoughts for you. The search for a way through is part of the way through. Good for you. You're doing it.   

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Congratulations on your five-year milestone, Rozuki. You inspire people like me who are earlier in their journey in living as nonsmokers. Very happy for you!  

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17 hours ago, Kdad said:

Well I smoked a few times this morning and then I destroyed the pack. I definitely want to quit for myself. It is just embarrassing that I have so many set backs. I've been watching the videos and that helps. 

I was a serial quitter for several years. I'd post at a previous forum that some members here were also a part of, so some of them may remember how I'd fail repeatedly. One of them (not here in this forum) told me I wasn't serious about quitting if I was not just sticking with it. That wasn't true. It was embarrassing to be in the cycle of getting excited about quitting, stubbing out what I expected was the last cigarette, set my signature ticker with the quit date, and post daily pledges and relapse. I didn't always post my attempts at quits, but many of them. 

Whey your why-quit becomes stronger than your why-smoke, you'll make it happen. Your why-reason should be something to feel excited about, strong enough to give you a kick of dopamine or adrenalin, a sense of power, and maybe guilt isn't doing that. 

I wanted to be sure I could survive Covid, so I quit just as it hit the USA in 2020. The vision of being on a mechanical ventilator in a hospital was a chilling one for me. I was on one once, and it was not pleasant to return to consciousness and find a tube down my throat, feeling immobilized, hearing beeps and hisses, disoriented, alarmed.

Don't give up on yourself. You can do this.

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Congratulations @Katgirl!!! Oh, it's great to see how the months of freedom are accumulating!  

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Congratulations, Steven. The months total is mounting..... this is great!!!

Congratulations!  May this year-one-nicotine-free be the first of many happy years as a nonsmoker!   

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For a couple of years I attempted to quit using gum, mints, and patches (not all at the same time). Also tried tapering, i.e., reducing number of cigarettes each day. I wasn't able to stick to any of it.

I went cold turkey. I rummaged around in my mind for a strong enough reason to quit. Then I threw away every bit of nicotine product in the house. I didn't go to the store or the mini-mart where I used to buy cigarettes. Done. There were some tough moments, now and then. 

It's having a strong enough reason, I think. The brief moments of temptation are weak, compared to my reason for quitting. 

You can do this!