Cristóbal

Congratulations Babs on your 4 years of beautiful freedom !!!! Cristóbal

I also stopped coughing the first day. I never had a strong cough, but every morning it was there. What is amazing to me, is that the garbage continues to leave my body in a visible manner at almost 4 years in my quit. This shows, how much damage I was doing to myself for the time I smoked....and also makes clear to me, that it will require much more time to repair it. Cristóbal

I used to get bronchitis in the cooler months....and I still smoked, while I took antibiotics for weeks. I always blamed it on the "cold" weather (75F/24C in the winter....very cold !!!), Although my doctor always told me that it was because of cigarettes, I would not ever believe her. I was very stupid. We all were. Addiction can make a person blind. Cristóbal

Use the education you are getting from your classes, to kill the lies that nicotine has created in your head. You smoked after 3 weeks, because you continued to believe these lies. So did all of us. For many years. As long as you believe that smoking provides to you *ANY* benefit, you will continue to throw quits away. However.......realize this: The only thing that is required to quit smoking permanently.....is to make a personal commitment, to never take another puff. Quitting smoking is as easy as this. Do it. Cristóbal

This is a beautful post Aine....because it is simple. Quitting smoking is not complicated at all. Keep it simple, and the quit will be easy. One of the biggest killer of quits is analysis-paralysis. Stop smoking....and you will stop smoking !!! Cristóbal.

My dear Tiffany, Once you stop believing the lies in your head that the cigarette tells you, then you will get your stickey quit. Add the last 4 years, to the 30 years you smoked before you started to come to the forums. Now it is 34 years of believing the garbage !!! Internalize your nicotine education, and get your permanent freedom that you desparately want. Cristóbal

Hello Bday, how are you doing ??? If you are still smoking, still check in. If you are still quit, still check in !!! Cristóbal

Hello ADDicted, ***VERY IMPORTANT*** !!! Realize that quitting smoking very commonly can also affect dosages of medications !!! See your doctor - before you quit again - and tell him/her that you are going to be quitting smoking, and that you would like to know if this may affect your medication. If quitting smoking will affect your medication, ask your doctor to make the adjustment before you quit. Cristóbal

Microsoft Office: You do not need to spend this money. I stopped using Microsoft Office in 2007-8, once I learned that there are others options. Everything that is in Microsoft Office, can now be gotten free from other places, and it does the *EXACT SAME THING* !!! Start with Mozilla Thunderbird for email......it does the exact same thing as Microsoft Outlook: DOWNLOAD FOR USA ENGLISH - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ Then continue with LibreOffice for everything else that you may find in Microsoft Office...it does the exact same thing as all the Microsoft Office programs: DOWNLOAD FOR USA ENGLISH - https://www.libreoffice.org/ Do not waste any more money !!!

Announce a party with date and time, and the party will be a success !!!

In the first year after quitting smoking, I thought that my lungs would clean themselves quickly, and then the progress would be much more slower and not noticeable at all. Now, I am close to 4 years in my quit and they continue to clean themselves....several times a week, the brown/gray garbage continues to come out, this has been consistent ever since I quit !!! I cannot deny that it is wonderful to see this old garbage leaving my body (I smoked for about 30 years). Every little bit of brown/gray that leaves my body, represents to me great progress. This progress has been wonderful - every year I can breathe much better than the year before. This question is really for quitters that have at least several months in their quits or more......what have your experiences been with this ??? Cristóbal

Quitting smoking successfully is not about getting rid of a "habit". To chew on your nails is a habit. Smoking is not the same as chewing your nails.....or picking your nose. It is about recognizing that you are a nicotine addict, and that you are dealing with drug addiction. Once you realize, in your mind and heart, that you cannot put any nicotine into your body again.....EVER......you are half way to your permanent freedom. The other half of your journey to your permanent quit, requires that you put into action your realization that you cannot put any nicotine in your body......EVER....again. It really is as simple as this !!! :party: Cristóbal

It is awesome !!! It is a release from slavery. When you quit you bring a new promise into your life that you will perhaps not die of a awful death caused by a completely useless, very costly addiction. The cost is not just money, but the addiction has a cost that encompasses your entire life - your health, your time, your attentions. Once you are free, you are able to live your life as you were born to live it. Love the process, love your freedom, and love your life !!! Cristóbal

If I had known as a smoker, how I would feel now in the future years after I quit, I would have quit immediately many years ago. The quality of my life is 1000 times better on my worst day as a non-smoker, than on my best day as a smoker. Cristóbal

Myth: "If I quit smoking, I will die !!!" Truth: "You will be dying to quit, when you are dying from smoking." Cristóbal

I remember how I *HAD* to smoke....and how it always made me feel tired. I cannot imagine to ever return to the slavery and general awful quality of life of being a smoker. Never again !!! It is very easy to not do something, that you do not want to do. Cristóbal

Hello Ariel, The reason why you are not getting much support for the "cutting down" method you have chosen to quit, is because it really does not work well. Please read the link that Nancy posted, this gives you some great education about nicotine addiction. All of us here are nicotine addicts. Smoking (and by doing this feeding our nicotine addiction) caused permanent changes in our brains that cannot ever be reversed. To explain this simply, all of us have grown millions of nicotine receptors in our brains that will be there for the rest of our lives. When you are smoking, every time these receptors are fed nicotine, they do not bother you. However, when you stop smoking (and stop feeding them), they then start screaming for nicotine and this is what causes many withdrawl symptoms. As long as you feed these receptors, you continue to keep the addiction alive, and that is what you are doing when you are "cutting down". The only way that you can put these receptors to sleep permanently, is to never put nicotine into your body again....this means even just one puff. It is important to understand that once these receptors go to sleep, that your withdrawl symptoms will end and you will be free, and feel just as a non-smoker does.....for the rest of your life......just as long as you never feed them again. EVER. NOT EVEN ONE PUFF. This concept is key to understanding quitting smoking. This foto shows the changes in these receptors with just one puff.....a few puffs....and then a few cigarettes. When you cut down, you are continuing to excite these nicotine receptors, as you can see in this foto, and you put yourself into awful, continuous withdrawl. The only way to stop this awful situation, is by: 1. Going back to smoking the amount you smoked every day before you started to "cut down". This means a failed quit. 2. Not putting any nicotine in your body, ever again. This means a successful quit. There is no gray zone, when it comes to nicotine addiction. There is only black, and white. Understanding nicotine addiction, this nicotine "Law of Addiction", and the process of quitting smoking, is critical to growing a healthy, permanent quit. I strongly suggest that you continue reading at whyquit.com, especially the article in the forum where this foto is located. The link is here: http://ffn.yuku.com/topic/116 I also strongly suggest that you pay attention to what the long-term quitters (1 year +) have to say in the comments to your posts. They have already been where you are......and they are also way ahead of you in their quit journey. Learn from their experiences; realize they are here specifically to help new people such as you; take their comments seriously; and let them guide you to the freedom that you are so desparately looking for. Right now, they are already at the place where you want to be in the future. Quitting smoking permanently is completely doable, for *EVERYBODY*. Your success depends on the amount of education about quitting smoking and nicotine addiction you give to yourself, and on the strength of your commitment to never taking another puff (NTAP). Cristóbal

Hello Sherri, We are glad you joined us, and congratulations on your 5 year quit (anniversary yesterday) !!! Fireworks for you !!! :yahoo: Cristóbal

I am here also, but not always posting. February - June is the most busy time of the year for me.

You would find a fascinating desert with a wild ocean on the west side and a calm sea on the east side....and also some very high mountains in the middle of the peninsula. One of the sunniest parts of the world, with weather that is always warm or hot, and very dry. Very few people live here, except for a few cities in the far north and far south. Most of the peninsula is still wild and empty, and it is not friendly for civilization because of the mountains, the hot climate, and no water. Some of the worlds best seafood, wine, old abandoned Spanish missions in the desert, fishing, diving and surfing !!! Tijuana, Ensenada, La Paz and Los Cabos !!! I am native of the peninsula, and I have 2 houses, one in the north part of the peninsula and the other in the south part, and go from one house to the other every 2 weeks.

This is a very good post, I will add this: I recommend watching 3 of Joel´s videos every day, and to spend at least a few minutes every day here, twice a day, reading any material that may be of interest to you. The amount of time you invest in yourself and your quit in the beginning, is proportional to the degree of understanding the process of quitting smoking and general happiness that you will have as a non-smoker. Cristóbal

According to Joel Spitzer, about 10% of smokers are not physically addicted to nicotine. Still, I am not sure why a person would want to have envy of these people who are commiting suicide by smoking when they do not have a nicotine addiction to feed. Another observation - many of these "occasional" smokers say they are not addicted, but often they are lying to you, and even to themselves. They smoke more than they will want to admit. And yet another observation - many of these "occasional" smokers may not be addicted to nicotine right now, but this does not mean that they will not become addicted in the future. (I was one of these when I was 12 years old.) Cristóbal

Once you get on the train, you will never want to get off !!! There is no reason at all why you should light another cigarette, at any time in your life....including this very moment. Jump.....we will catch you. Cristóbal

Ja ja, dieser Mensch ist ausgeflippt. Cristóbal

Hello MQ, I am so glad to see you again, and also glad to be able to contribute to the quits of those who are just beginning their journeys.