Penguin

NOPE

I understand that! It's a good way to put it. In those times, it may help to make a list of all the reasons to quit apart from yourself. Remind yourself of why you quit in the first place, and the good that's come from it. "Count your blessings" is a bit trite, but there's some truth to it. Write it down, if you need to.

Remember, you have permission to do anything else you need to do to get through your stress, just nothing that involves smoking. Those sudden cravings that nag at you are rough, but you can get through them. Just think, every moment you resist, you're reinforcing your quit.

NOPE

Congratulations!

NOPE!

NOPE!

NOPE!

NOPE!

I was under the weather yesterday, so Sunday's come and gone, but it was definitely a NOPE kind of day!

N̷̨̝̣̭͎̫̒͛͊̏̿̄̌͜O̶̧͓̬̟̲͎̞̭̞̯͒́̐̋̄̔P̴̡̟̰͎̠̐̽̇̀̀̆́̓͋̈́Ȩ̶̩̞̳̮͌̀̇͂̆̕͝

Just a tiny celebration today, but my dad and I were working on a project today. Normally, he frustrates me to no end because our work styles are so very different, and I used to always smoke a lot more whenever he and I had to work together. Today, it didn't even occur to me that I wanted to smoke; I just wanted to breathe and calm down and then take a nap.

NOPE

NOPE!

NOPE!

NOPE Every time I think about smoking, I remember the sickness I felt, and the stench. I think about having to plan my life around smoking, the conflicts it caused with family, and the worry it gave me (and still gives me) with every little medical hiccup I experience. I'm so thankful to be free of most of that and more, and getting stronger and healthier every day.

NOPE!

My idea is to put a waterproofed barrel on some kind of axle and connect it to a windmill vane, so the wind will turn the barrel filled with sand, water, and glass. I'd also like some way to brake the windmill system and transfer it to some sort of block-and-tackle system that uses the weight of the birdseed and the motion of the birds to somehow move the barrel. They won't provide a lot of motion, I don't think, but some. Balancing all of those ideas in a package small enough to fit on my apartment balcony is the challenge. I haven't quite got it all worked out yet, but I've got some ideas about the windmill system. It's transferring it to a block-and-tackle I haven't quite gotten yet. I'm not even sure that's the way to describe it.

I've been working on a design for a bird feeder that helps to polish sea glass. It's proving much more difficult than I originally anticipated, but I like the challenge.

NOPE!

Welcome! It's good you recognize your reasons for quitting. Hopefully you matter to yourself as much as your loved ones matter to you. The good news is, it takes roughly four days for the nicotine to quit your system. Now it's a psychological game. Everyone's quit is different, but we're here to root for you and help you as much as we can. You can do this!

Not. One. Puff. Ever. NOPE!

NOPE! (I just woke up and there's only 8 hours left in today, but it still counts!)

Yesterday I found the Serenity necklace I bought during a previous attempt. I decided that's going to be my gift to myself for my first year clean. I'm a big fan of physical incentives (like challenge coins to mark anniversaries), but no one in my life is really the type to buy that sort of thing for me, so I'm planning to buy gifts for myself--probably in the form of simple jewelry I can wear, or challenge coins I can carry, as my clean streak increases.

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.