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Thanks everyone! You make me feel really great. I clued a few of my family members to the fact that it was my 2nd year anniversary of being smoke free and the responses were not so encouraging, celebratory, or supportive. A couple of them were my biggest naggers about needing to quit to begin with. Good thing I didn’t quit for ‘them’ or they would’ve driven me back to smoking already. LOL So since I quit for ‘me’, I just celebrated all by myself. I am so very thankful for the congratulatory posts y’all’ve sent to me. You guys are the best!

You’re doing great @darcy!

Oh no, SP! But you have the strength and courage to get back on this train! You will always find a seat here! Take advantage of all the help this site can give to get you through those difficult times. I am glad that you are back with us!

Congratulations Marti!

Congratulations @Boo! Amazing! Take care of yourself and your family. We all hope to hear from you soon.

Congratulations Jimmy! Ten years is awesome!

This. This will see you through! I’m looking forward to following your quit. Stay close.

Ditto on everything Denali said. I would just add that there is nothing romantic about killing ourselves in one of the slowest and smelliest ways possible. The same tools that got you through the first week will see you through your first month and so on! In between each task replace that smoke break with loud music and a silly dance, a short brisk walk, anything that engages your mind and body! It only takes a few minutes to beat back that Nicodemon! And that gets easier too. Just stay busy and stay close and please if needed.

Hi Mee! Great to see you here and I’m so happy that you are enjoying your smoke free life. It’ll be great to have you on here more often.

Good Morning Molly! It’s going to be a great day! Stay busy and stay close!

Oh @Molly2310. I’m sorry that you smoked. But we’re still here for you. You just get right back on this train and start counting those smoke free days again. We are here to help you. Please reach out if you need us. Don’t try to bare the burden alone when you don’t have to. We’ll hold your seat here on the train. I do hope to see you back with us soon!

Same here with the triggers. I think the nicotine and chemicals screwed us up so much our bodies just go on the fritz during the beginning stages of our quit and can’t handle ‘peace’ so it wants to kill it and us. HaHa I will be 2 years quit next month and every so often while I’m reading and totally immersed in a book I find myself wanting a cigarette. Just a thought. Nothing major. I never really smoked while reading. I need both hands to read. Holding the book and turning pages. (I hate ebooks and audiobooks make me want to hurt someone.) I speed read. So, I’m constantly turning a page. If I lit a cigarette while reading it remained in the ashtray totally forgotten. (I don’t have the patience to read like a normal person. I get bored and anxious.) So yeah, I find it extremely odd that I now will think of a cigarette while reading. Probably just my brain attacking me because I am totally ‘zen’ if I have a book in my hands. So the ghost of nicotine tries to ruin that for me. You are doing great. Recognizing and resolving your issues. Talking them through with someone. I hope the remainder of your day goes smoothly!

@Brioski I suffer from panic/anxiety attacks with depression. I was having major issues with anxiety after quitting smoking. I can’t remember exactly what I saw that first brought it to my attention that some quitters have to reduce or even totally cut their caffeine intake after they have quit smoking. I’m sorry that I’m not more informative on the whys of that. It has something to do with the brain having to need more caffeine for it to actually work when you smoke so that when you quit you are overloaded. Not everyone. But of course, me. I need coffee and I love an ice cold Coke. It’s one of my favorite things. I was using an ice cold Coke as a reward during my initial quit. My anxiety was so bad though that I was desperate enough to try lowering my caffeine intake and it worked!!! I could hardly believe it, but it helped so much. I am best when I have zero intake of caffeine, but living a life without caffeine is insanity itself, so some days I just deal with that. It bothers me that I can’t or don’t really want to totally let Coke and a really good cup of coffee completely go from my life. I mean I’ve kicked Nicodemon’s butt to the curb! Ground him under my heel into his own ashes and I just can’t seem to want to get rid of something that causes me so much emotional turmoil. Maybe if I have a full blown public breakdown it would make me want to totally let caffeine go. Maybe not. Anyway, I don’t know what your caffeine intake is, but it might be worth it for you to try reducing it for a period of time just to see if it eases the anxiety. I’m not positive, but I believe maybe it was @intoxicated yoda that first brought this issue to my attention. I hope that you can get the anxiety issues under control. I know how bad they can be. P.S. You know those times when you feel like all you need is a really good cry? Well, I can very easily trigger that by fixing a really good strong cup of coffee or having a Coke. That’s just how sensitive to caffeine I am and that depresses me greatly. But I press on.

Congratulations on your 8 year quit!! This a wonderful thing! Thank you for all of your words of encouragement that have helped me and so many others!

Those first days were the worst for me. I suffer from severe anxiety and depression and they were definitely triggered when I was going through initial withdrawals. It was horrific to say the least. Somewhere during that haziness my brain knew it would get better and also because of the countless testimonials on this site that state it does get better and because of the countless posts of members episodes and incidents in dealing with the battles fought during their early quit. You’ve got this and we are all here to see you through.

This happens to me sometimes. Not too often. Mine is more of a stale smoke odor. Not strong. Just a wisp. Totally mental. I would love to exchange that odor for the scent of Magnolia or Wisteria blooms.

Your words are truth and there will always be someone here for you. Someone to help you along whenever needed. It’s good to have you back with us.

Welcome back @Brioski! It’s good that you have hopped back on board with us! You will always have a seat here. We have an SOS forum you can reach out on if you ever feel that you are going to cave to a crave. Let us help you get through these first weeks and months of your quit. Stay close!

Congratulations Kate! You have done so well battling this addiction. I’m so proud of you!

Congratulations Darcy on your first month smoke free! You are doing great!

Those urges to smoke will grow further apart overtime and eventually the actual urge lessens to a mere thought and then as a wisp of a memory come and gone before you name it. You are building a solid foundation for your quit and it will carry you through.

You are doing great Molly. Stay focused on the cleansing breaths of clean air you are inhaling and the exhalation of all the lies addiction has kept you chained with.

I’m so glad that you are still here with us and that you are doing so well with your quit and yes, I am thankful that I continue to BE ‘here’. Not only for myself but for others also.

Hello @Molly2310! This is a great thing that you are doing! You know that you can get through the early stages because you’ve done it before but, this is a great place to get the solid foundation built that will ensure your forever quit! And as @johnny5 said, “stick close to this site.” I did and I’m just a little over a month shy of being quit 2 years. I needed a whole lot of help and I got it all right here. I’m looking forward to following your quit.