JackiMac

The whole thought process behind quitting and the fear I had was what stopped me in my early days, I always find the initial few months to be easy and I think I became complacent too early and too soon. I have known many people, with many ways of quitting, some successful, some not, but the thing that seems to come across in most quits is the thought process behind it, simply saying No, or I will succeed, being positive in your quit, viewing yourself as a non smoker. I must admit that when I quit in the past I always had this underlying thought that it was not a forever quit, I always knew I was going to go back to smoking at some point, daft! No not really just the addictions way of coping with me trying to attempt to quit. This time I stood up, I told myself I was an addict, that I had nothing to fear from giving up, I was only creating the fear myself to put off what I really deep down wanted to do, Stop smoking, become a non smoker. We have different ways of dealing with a quit, but the most important thing is we all reach our ultimate goal, quitting and keeping quit.

Right Marti, you go right and I go left and Shuffle, you got this quit firmly by the balls onwards and upwards xxxx

Happy Happy Birthday toooooooooo uuuuuuuuuuuuxxxx

Marti thank you thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, your 8 month quit has been amazing from day one to be part of and to share with you, how fantastic to have been away on a trip of a lifetime, its amazing the connections that we make in our small corner of the internet, but friendships and connections are made and they grow in strength like our quits, I am surprised that Mr Bakon did not show up in disguise, or did he!!!!! To a wonderful loverly warm lady All together Now Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious xxxxx

Hi Kristen sorry I missed your hello, but a huge welcome to QT, so glad you are here and looking forward to sharing your journey with you xx

As we all know I romanced the cigarette at around my 7 month quit, and to me, it was a small thought in the back of my head that I allowed to grow, and the more it grew the more it was all I could think about 24/7, thinking just one, just to see, I was testing myself, telling myself that I missed the cigarette, that I missed smoking, I deliberately put myself with someone who smoked who I knew would offer me one, without me actually asking for one, so then I could lay the blame at someone else's door. The addiction took me back. As soon as that thought appears show it the door, NO is all it takes, xxx

Jess swinging ma pants for you 1 Month is awesome my lovely xx

For my Grandad who I never met, who my mum never met, who went down on HMS Kite 3rd time unlucky being torpedoed, and was only 23. RIP to all our brace men, women and animals who gave their lives for us xxx

Kept the same really original name on my wee jaunt to a better site, think of baffled often, never got the chance to "meet" sally, xx

Great to see you Rob congratulations on your amazing quit xx

And its a NOPE from me

Yogi amazing quit, big hugs to you xx

Found this amazingly funny, wonder what we could throw at them!!! xx

WOWWZER Tracey, not be long till you can kick up your heels and celebrate, loved sharing your journey with you xx

HAHAH for some reason I can really see you Jen doing this in the playground lol xx

I really would love to know what medication you all take................please share :o xx

Hi Wendy, its all part of the process of quitting, at the begging of a quit the fear of quitting holds us back, we are afraid that we wont like who we become without a cigarette, we are afraid of living with a cigarette, we are afraid that our personalities will alter, but in all honestly that is the addiction speaking, as time goes forward and we learn that life will continue on after quitting, nothing bad is going to happen to us just simply because we quit, we overcome the fear we have of quitting, we become more and more confident that we do not need a cigarette just to get by, you will find yourself finding the person that you are, the true person, you are being true to you, its like an awakening, once the nicotine addiction loosens its hold on you, your brain becomes more alert life becomes more enjoyable because you are not tied to nicotine any longer, you are back in control of your life, you feel pride in yourself. Yes you do lose a part of you, but its a part of you that you really don't want to keep, because the "new you" is a more happy, confident, and healthier person. XX

Ohhh hello how do I go about getting one of the fab new tickers please xx

Been off the sidelines for a few days, (firstly all your love and prayers were greatly appreciated, my son is on the mend, he had a lung infection and is slowly improving, so good to see him smile, one happy mum) anyhoo, havent been around for a few days, missed you guys :D but last time stress came aknocking on my door, I caved in and smoked. This time I am happy and proud to say that even after the S@@T of the last 5 weeks, I didn't give in, Oh god I wanted a cigarette, I seriously thought that lighting up would make my life easier, but I then rationalised my thought process, I remember my last relapse and I remembered the taste of lighting up the cigarette after being quit, and I remember how utterly DISGUSTING it tasted, I remember how disappointed I was with myself and how I wished I could have put the clock back and just uttered one simple word "NO", this time I braved myself against the crave and I did utter that one SIMPLE word "No", thats all it took "NO" how easy was that!!!. So me -v- Stress HA I won, na nannanana Stress get out of here. Yes Stress is one major factor in the reason why people do not quit, and why so many of us relapse, but we are only laying the blame at stress's door, we have the ultimate say so on when we can quit and why we do not need to relapse. The ultimate word is NO.

Colleen Happy Happy Birthday my lovely, hope you have had a wonderful day xx

Ross that looked amazing, two spoons for the pudding, I just had chicken fried rice, curry sauce and chips followed by Minstrels, Nom Nom, xx

Its amazing reading through all the posts above, although many of us have so many different reasons for not wanting to quit, the main one that stands out to me is Fear, thats what stopped me for so many years, I was so scared to stop smoking, It scared me more than dying from smoking itself, it just shows you how deep the addiction really is that it stops our brain from being rational. Our younger smoking selfs all confessed to "enjoying the smoke", it made us look cool, everyone smoked, sitting in the pub with our favourite tipple, relaxing with friends, sitting down after our evening meal, it was all brainwashing, I would tell myself I couldn't live without my smokes Ha, then I started to realise that I would die eventually with them, what did I want more, my life or a cigarette, no contest really, but its convincing the addict inside, he is there and he does come around quite often, but I believe I can overcome the addict and I can overcome the fear, because I am worth more.

Your Lbairdness well done on reaching the fantastic milestone, keep posting on the flat whites and swing ur kilt in celebration xxx

Well done on reaching an amazing 7 months xx

Awesome quit lace, well done on 8 xxx