Oneistoo

Thanks, DD. :) I want to put this from Sharonsiff here: Your thoughts came from your limbic ( your emotional Center/ the I need area) so by not making the purchase you have put a nugget in the logic and truth bank of your mind and then next time your limbic kicks off, temptation, you can then hand over the though to your truth, logic and reason side of thinking. It works... I do it all the time when my emotional thinking is loud in my day to day trails and tribulations. It will be normal to have temptation anyway JC, and at times the temptation outbursts will feel very strong and can make you feel you are not going to manage them well. I think NEAT when this happens in my day to day life You can't control your thoughts but we can learn to manage then. N= Normal E= Expected A= Accepted (very important!) T= Taken Care Of... Which you did by deciding not to make a purchase.

Ok, so on the project side of things, to feel accomplished I'm now painting my bedroom and my kitchen floor. :) Painting is not one of those things that I love most in life, but it does look great when you're done.

It seems that it is not used much (unless I'm totally wrong somehow). There's a blog section on the other site as well, and it's just as unused. The format is too blog-oriented and not really geared toward being a "home" kind of place. The diary section was what made the WQD take off (I've been a moderator there since it started ten years ago), and from just a handful of site users it now has almost 27,000 members. Anyway....

NOPE, NOPE, NOPE

So glad for you!!! Keep it up, and keep being an inspiration for someone like me. :)

Big congratulations, that's an awesome accomplishment! :)

That's so cool! :)

I was 14 and a girlfriend had bought some and shared. We hid somewhere and smoked together. I got hooked right away, but of course only smoked little and sporadically compared to later. I think it is my primary addition, and I think the urge to "do something" is an attempt to fill a loss and a void inside of me that goes way back to infancy. I think the loss and void comes from a feeling of not belonging where I am (a new baby emerging in the 3D world), and not feeling loved as an infant (my mom was and still is not affectionate). It's a past experience that cannot be undone, but certain substances and activities -- for a few moments when I first tried them -- made me feel whole again and my addictions started when I tried, and tried, and tried to recapture that feeling. I still don't have the answer to how to solve this.

Thank you, Tracey. I wish we had a Journals and Diaries section on QT. I would love to read the journeys of other people, it would help me in my own quit. Plus, I know from http://wqd.netwarriors.org/ that a section like that is a magnet for newbies.

Smoking is the biggest lie ever. You get absolutely nothing from it but a craving for the next one. This one is good to keep in mind today (and all other days). If I analyze what happens if I go buy a pack of cigarettes, I can now clearly see that the chain-smoking of at least one pack of cigarettes that would follow is me first filling up a psychological depletion of "smoking." Then, as soon as I begin to physically withdraw from the nicotine, I fill it up again and the abiity to do this gives me a great feeling of accomplishment and mastery: I have a need, and swiftly and successfully I meet that need. There aren't many needs in life that are so quickly met! Doing it gives me psychological pleasure as well as physical pleasure. When the feeling begins to subside, I can jolt it back up by smoking another cigarette. Now that I'm no longer incessantly eating, which both distracted me and kind of acted as a substitute for smoking, I can see how I'm no longer getting a personal feeling of accomplishment from smoking. A part of my daily, repeated "mastery" over my life is gone. I can see how people can become depressed at this stage and want to smoke. The only way to counter that, as I can see it, would be to increase the opportunities for feeling mastery in one's life by focusing on small tasks that need to be done and then doing them. I think that's the next stage in my quit.

Nope today, too. Have a great day, everyone! :)

He's beautiful! He's got really good vibes. Strangely, I seem to be getting a second wind every night at around ten. I've cut very much down on coffee since my quit, so I doubt it's that. I sometimes can stay awake until five in the morning. I don't have problems getting up, but if I can I'll sleep in. I think it'll correct itself at some point.

One year!!! That's a mighty impressive accomplishment. Big congratulations! :)

I also have difficulties sleeping, if that's any consolation. ;) I'm glad it's going well otherwise. Question: Who is that beautiful horse on your avatar?

I'm doing better today, but I also feel a bit mental. My brain feels foggy, and I'm having a difficult time comprehending stuff I read and also difficulty formulating sentences when I write. Is it normal to feel more or less retarded after you've been quit for several weeks? How long does this phase last? My quit-related weight gain is beginning to annoy me. It makes it harder to exercise, which, in turn, makes it harder to get rid of the weight. But I still feel like stuffing my face. Last night, I had a glimmer of premonition of a future as a non-smoker....it came out of the blue, lasted just a fraction of a second, and it was a sensation more than a visual....but it was really great. I think the temptation is to focus too much on the current quit discomfort and not project out or visualize the glory of living without needing nicotine. I think I need to focus more on the result, and see it as a given that I will reach it.

Congratulations on your long quit, and welcome! :)

Morning wonderful friends on a sunny Sunday, and NOPE!

Yesterday: gym with 1.5K run followed by 15 min weights, morning and evening. Today: brisk walk with borrowed dog outdoors.

Not all of this applies to me, but I think I need to work on this aspect in general: http://www.vishnusvirtues.com/boost-your-confidence/

Ok, I did nothing fancy....I borrowed a dog from an old lady who doesn't walk so well anymore, and took the happy doggie for a great walk in the snow. :)

Hello, I'm new here....I just wanted to congratulate you on getting over your surgery and back here on the board. Wishing you a speedy recovery. :)

Congratulations! What a wonderful accomplishment!

Wow, one week! Congratulations!!!!

Well,that's a bit more advanced than the level I'm at right now, Marti. In a battle between a pledge and my addiction, my addiction would win. The "this day, this hour, this minute" for me right now is more about enduring the discomfort. At the moment my daily pledging is purely aspirational. :)

I think I'm forgetting a technique that makes it much easier to stay quit! It's to take my focus away on the relative enormity of never smoking again for the rest of my life, and instead just focusing on this day, this hour, this minute. Psychologically, that makes it so much more manageable, and it isn't as threatening to my addiction. :)