Penguin

In one of my quit attempts, I thought I could just have one. I also tried telling myself cigars were safer. I suppose it has helped me that I've more or less dropped everyone in my life who smokes. I'll still talk to them if I run into them, but I won't sit around with anyone while they're smoking. It has helped me to maintain the reality that all smoking is dangerous. Maybe make it a point to avoid it entirely, even if it means missing out on other stuff.

NOPE!

Are you talking about the one like at the bottom of my posts? As far as I know the site doesn't have the ability to host tickers, but you can build one at Ticker Factory for a "General Event," and put in whatever you like.

NOPE!

One thing I did when I quit: I gave myself permission to do anything else. Granted, I didn't have any illegal habits or anything that was going to kill me right away, so take that off the table if you need to. But things like junk food, alcohol (as long as you're not an alcoholic/persistent drunk), TV, gaming, etc.? Go wild, so long as you're not putting your life, freedom, etc. in danger. It can help to alleviate the stress. Of course it's also good if you can distract yourself with good hobbies. Point is, whatever you do, take smoking off the table and do anything else in order to get through the cravings. After four days, the nicotine's out of your system, and from there it's a psychological fight.

That's a lot of rough stress, but you can handle it. The stress is temporary, but smoking will just keep pulling you in again and again. The stress will pass, but addiction is the curse that keeps on giving. Don't let the temporary things take your dignity, friend.

I'm dropping in to say hello, and that I haven't given up on QT or my own quit. My quit is still going strong, though I concede it crossed my mind tonight to smoke in order to deal with frustrations I'm having. A couple things kept me from making that mistake: 1. I like myself more now than I did when I smoked, and though I'm far from perfect, I like who I am becoming. 2. The people who are frustrating me aren't worth my dignity. I'm not going to throw away nearly 15 months of progress (not to mention potentially the rest of my life) for them. Knowing myself as I do, I operate on the presumption that if I ever pick smoking back up again, I won't be able to quit again. It was hard enough the first time around, took multiple attempts over nearly two decades, and the only thing that convinced me to quit was having a traumatic medical episode. I'm just not in good enough health to survive another episode like that, so if I get hooked again, I know my stubborn butt will be hooked on butts forever, and I'm not going to let that happen if I can help it. 3. I'm too lazy to walk to the store for tobacco. 4. I remember what it felt like the first time I inhaled, and how sick I was. I know that's how it would feel if I smoked again, and I just do not want to go through any of that. 5. I remember what it was like, having to deal with the constant scrubbing and laundry and trying to cover up my stench (unsuccessfully) in order to keep my family, friends, and neighbors from complaining. My stress level may rise occasionally due to frustrations, but at least I don't have the constant stress of wrestling with all that worry and useless effort. It's also healthy for me to sit with my frustrations and cope with them as a mature adult, rather than running to drugs to deal with them for me. I think I'll take myself to bed and try to get some sleep.

Congratulations!

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I haven't forgotten about exercising, but I also haven't been as diligent as I should be. Between the holidays and my busy schedule and whatnot, it's difficult for me to remember to take time to practice lifting. That said, I have carved out some time after Christmas to plan a whole regimen, with alarms and written reminders and whatnot to help me remember to exercise.

I made it 14 months! Sometimes I'm surprised by what even makes me think of cigarettes, or of having one. A random sight or smell or rumble in my stomach can kick off a small urge. I've also noticed the irritation I used to feel around cigarette smoke has abated somewhat. I suppose at some point I'll level out and it'll be like it was before I was ever a smoker, when I didn't find the odor of cigarette smoke offensive. Then I'll really have to be on my guard, because that'll be one less thing keeping me from smoking. I don't mind admitting I enjoyed smoking, to some degree, and there's a part of me that would enjoy it still if it wasn't for all the negative things about it. Smoking is still a nasty, lethal habit, but that doesn't mean there isn't a part of me that misses it. Thankfully I don't tend to let that part of me in the driver's seat very often, because that part of me is an emotional idiot who does what feels good in the short-term, with no regard for the long-term consequences.

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"Ready Wally? On three. One, two--" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE!"

Lie: I'll quit when ___. Whenever you think about quitting smoking--any addiction, really--you might come across a series of lies, in no particular order. One of those lies is, "I'll quit after this ___." You think you'll really quit after that next cigarette, or that next pack, or whatever. For me, it was always, "I'll quit when I can get through a pack without anyone asking me for one." When that finally happened, I thought, "Well, I'll quit after I can thoroughly enjoy each cigarette." On and on it went, in a never-ending loop. Before we go any further, keep something in mind: I was sincere. I truly believed I could and would quit under the right conditions. Thing is, my brain kept moving the goalposts because I was afraid of what quitting would be like. It was going to be uncomfortable. When you're addicted to something, your instinct will be to change the goalposts so the addictive behavior can continue. You will be entirely sincere in thinking you can quit under magical circumstances that will never happen, or if they do, well, they weren't perfect for one reason or another. It'll never be enough. At a certain point, you have to accept the perfect circumstances won't ever arrive. You're killing yourself waiting for Godot. You also have to accept it will be uncomfortable. Lie: Quitting smoking will be miserable. When I finally did quit, it really didn't feel awful; not in the way most people think of quitting as being awful. When I quit, I had a collapsed lung, a tube in my chest, nothing to do but watch TV for four days, and even now a year later my brain likes to panic whenever I catch even a whiff of a cigarette, which I'm fairly certain is some kind of PTSD. So yeah, it was awful, but I didn't have any of the typical symptoms people associate with quitting. Different strokes for different folks. Every quit is different. Sure, you're likely to experience irritability. You're likely to feel out of sorts. You're quitting dependence on a dangerous concoction of chemicals, so yeah, you're probably going to feel something unpleasant. Thing is, I don't know of anyone who died quitting nicotine. I'm sure someone has, in the history of forever, but the odds of that happening are statistically insignificant. You know what has a much higher chance of killing you? Not quitting. That has a statistically significant chance to kill you in some really unpleasant ways. Until you go through it, you won't know what quitting is like. "Well I've tried quitting before," you say. Fair point, but allow me to retort: you're still here. Trying to quit didn't kill you. It very likely didn't even bring you anywhere close to dying. For all the unpleasantness you felt, you survived. The chances are very good you will survive quitting nicotine. Lie: I'll smoke an alternate to be healthier. We're all taught smoking tobacco is unhealthy, but still rumors persist about menthols, lights, cloves, cigars, cigarillos, pipes, vapes, and the list goes on. Some swear smoking weed doesn't have any bad side effects. And of course there are those who say chewing tobacco in one form or another is a better alternative to smoking. The truth is, all tobacco products (and marijuana) are processed with harmful chemicals you shouldn't be ingesting, period. Smoking anything lets smoke into your body, which invites a whole host of health issues. Chewing tobaccos have a long history of horrifying cancers. Even vapes--long touted as a "safe" alternative to smoking--contain toxic chemicals linked with diseases. The only advantage to smokeless tobacco is that it doesn't inflict your habit on others. That's it. You're still causing harm to yourself. Don't delude yourself into thinking you're engaging in a healthy habit. Smoking is addictive and dangerous, no matter how you try to play around with it. The safe alternative is to quit, not try to find a way to have your cake and eat it, too. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/tobacco/carcinogens-found-in-tobacco-products.html https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/whats-in-a-cigarette https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/stopping-smoking/reasons-to-stop/tobacco/ https://www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2021/study-finds-new-evidence-of-health-threat-from-chemicals-in-marijuana-and-tobacco-smoke https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/e-cigarettes-vaping/whats-in-an-e-cigarette Feel free to add your own lies and debunk them. I'll add more as I think of them.

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NOPE! Went to a Christmas play last night at a church, where I thought surely I wouldn't have to be around the smoke that constantly permeates my apartment building. Unfortunately someone in the vicinity of where I was sitting smelled like a wet ashtray dabbed with aftershave.