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It’s awesome that your wife has decided to go through this with you @Sal! I wish the best for you both!

Awww man! Well, as it is said, ‘better hunt next time!’ I thought about you on New Years Day as I was enjoying my pork ribs. But hey, at least you are a bit more familiar with the new rifle. You really need to name her! HaHa Oh and WELCOME BACK!

Congratulations on your 9 year quit AND on your nursing graduation and new career position! You ARE amazing! Best wishes to you!

Excellent thread @bakon! Really brought those first couple of months of my own quit to mind. You have a solid quit. This thread has probably helped and will help so many newbies! I sure hope they find it and read it. Thank you for your diligence in logging your journey.

Great going @Cweb123! Three days! After three days nicotine is out of your system! So be extra vigilant in avoiding those triggers and do whatever you have to do to keep from lighting up again! Because now the mind games start. Time to do the work to rewire your brain in how to respond to all of the brains requests for nicotine. Please stay close to this site. We will go through this with you. You will have our support. I didn’t tell anyone that I was quitting. No one even realized that I had quit until I told them. I found this extremely sad. I smoked so much for so long, people assumed I still had a cigarette in hand when I didn’t. I have a 21 and 19 year old still living at home and they never even noticed. So, either way I guess it’s just depressing that the support isn’t there. But that is what this train is for, so welcome aboard!!! I’m 9 and a half months quit after smoking 35 plus years at 2 packs a day. Stay strong and see you around!

Congratulations on 3 months!! You deserve a grand treat today. I hope that enjoy it!

Ouch! I had to cut way back on the caffeine when I first quit. This sounds insane but, I would literally sit there and cry for hours and then periodically off and on again throughout the day for no reason or so I thought when I quit smoking. Over time I realized it was my coffee triggering horrendous anxiety attacks. I finally was able to manage having my coffee when I cut the coffee grounds down to 1 teaspoon(yes, 1 teaspoon!) per 5 cups of coffee. It was basically discolored water! LOL Disgusting, but I have to have my coffee. Sadly, 9 months in and I can only manage 1 tablespoon of coffee grinds per 5 cups. We will not even discuss what happens when I drink a bottled or canned Coca Cola. HaHa Weirdest thing though is that I can drink a fountain Coke no problem. Huh. So, even though I can’t enjoy my coffee or a Coke anymore() the payoff for quitting smoking is still so great that it is worth it! Hoping you don’t have the same issue as me.

Welcome aboard @Davevat1! Learning a bit of a new language could be fun! lol And using this as a blog is an excellent idea. So many of us do this and it is very therapeutic and helpful to others also! We are all here to help you if needed. We have an SOS forum that you can use to reach out on if you are on the verge of lighting up and want help in just saying, ‘NOPE!’ I’m looking forward to following your quit. I’m 9 months into my quit and although it was a nasty bit of a mess initially, I can honestly say that it is so worth it. The smartest thing I’ve ever done! See you around!

2022 is your year to quit! All of us on board this train has and you can too! The newest newbie to the most seasoned refrainer of setting something on fire and sticking it in your mouth will have some nugget of truth that will resonate with you and help you along with your journey! I hope that you will join us!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for bumping this @jillar! Excellent tips that are extremely helpful. And ‘way to go!’ @KEL!

Living life ‘fully’! No more of that allowing nicotine to dictate what I can do, where I can go, when I can do something, nor for how long I can do it! FREEDOM!!!

I did not have any craves to do deal with over the Christmas holiday. As I’ve mentioned before though, my anxiety issues are worse than when I smoked. So Christmas Eve and Day are the worst two days of the year for me and they were particularly rough this year. I found myself horribly and unceasingly anxious and it has carried over into today, although not as rough. I was super tense and it was hard for me to maintain my ‘ain’t life grand’ facade. Anyway, this evening I’m pretty much back to my normal self. I’m thankful that as far as I can tell none of us newbies lost our quit this past weekend. Y’all be sure to remain vigilant this upcoming weekend though.

Congratulations on four months, @intoxicated yoda! You are amazing and your contributions on the forums are very helpful. Looking forward to watching the next four months of your quit.

Merry Christmas @joe! You have a great looking family there!

Good luck! @intoxicated yodaYou’ve come so far these past few months and although the battle is still on—you’ve got game!

Thankful that your great nephew is well enough to go home @Cbdave. How frightening this must have been for everyone. Also happy for you that your son made it home for the holiday!

Congratulations @Katgirl! He sure is a handsome little fella!

Hello, @Sal! I’m glad that you have hopped on board the train. There is a lot of information, from personal quit issues and strategies to articles,books, and videos on this site to help you along the way. Reading the personal blogs and posts helped me the most. Other than recognizing(from the videos) that I am an addict(‘twas an ugly day) it’s where the most useful help I received was found. I used the patches because of lifelong anxiety issues I have. I started with step 2. I didn’t do the full suggested time requirement before moving on to step 3. Once I became comfortable with step 3 and actually forgot to apply the patch one day, I knew that I was done. The problem was that I suffered through the nicotine withdrawals 3 times! It was grueling, but I knew then and still know today that I would not have survived a cold turkey quit. Every quit is different. The most important thing that you can do is read everything on this site and arm yourself with knowledge and also keep a record of your quit. Listing craves-what triggered them and what worked to end it. Your notes will be useful if you happen to pick the cigarettes back up again. Stay busy, busy, busy and stay hydrated. Unfortunately, still being on the patch, you still have nicotine in your system and your addiction is still being fed. The three days that it is going to take to get it out of your system are going to be rough. I was confined to my bed, curled up in the fetal position with the covers over my head crying and silently screaming for those three days. But thankfully, everyone’s experience is not quite the same. I truly hope that you and your wife can beat this addiction. It is so worth it. It truly is liberating! I am 55. I started smoking when I was 15. I was up to two packs a day(and on occasion, more)when I quit. I just celebrated my 9th month quit! Coming up on a year!!! Without a doubt, you’ve got to want this! It takes full commitment! I’m looking forward to following your quit and hope to see you on here—a lot!

Oh, Kris. I feel for you. I suffer from anxiety and the seasonal anxiety is the worst. It’s good that you have decided to see your doctor. There are so many physiological reasons why you can be off center. They can run tests as well as referring you to your therapist. I know that you’ve probably heard this so many times, but volunteering at a seniors center would do wonders for you. You enjoy helping others! By all means, see your therapist though. You are a very strong woman for reaching out. That in itself is a large step on the journey to recovery and I’m sure you know that too. Stay close to the train over the holidays! I will make a mental note to keep checking in.

@TONY Oh. And no bucket list as in places to go or things to do for me. However, I do have a massive list of what I call My Bucket Books! No matter how many of these books I read, the list just keeps growing and growing. HaHa It’s horrible. I’m currently suffering through The Iliad.

Hello @TONY! This Christmas will be my 13th without my husband. Does it get easier? Yes. But a bittersweet memory can take your breath away in a flash, but mercifully is only fleeting. I suggest you start a tradition by doing something meaningful to honor the way she loved you because the way she made you feel about her, yourself, and the way you saw yourselves as a couple will be one of the most endearing and lasting memories you retain. I do hope that you can find some peace and comfort this holiday.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Thank you @Cbdave and @jillar! You guys rock!