how many attempts

[christine 12]

Before you actually managed to quit?I am on like six or seven, I'm not sure.

[Rozuki]

Third time was the charm for me! 

[jillar]

Hi Christine, it's good to see you back. I've had a lot of half-ass attempts to quit. I say that because I knew they wouldn't stick because I didn't really want to quit. Once you change your mindset to ready to quit I think you'll get your sticky quit. The big thing is to not give up or in. You are stronger than a crave, you just have to believe that  

Edited September 11, 2018 by jillar

[Sazerac]

Hi Christine.

I abstained when pregnant but, never meant to quit, resuming immediately after the birth.

 

I decided to quit in 2013 and that was that.

 

There is a lot to learn from each quit, each attempt to quit.

 

Congratulations on your three month plus !  quit.

How are you feeling ?

What has helped you succeed ?

 

[Reciprocity]

I think you'll get answers that are all over the board Christine. Most will have multiple attempts and others manage to get it done first time, but those are in the minority I think. It really doesn't matter in the end as long as you keep trying until you find the right mindset to make it your permanent quit   I think that mindset can be different for everyone and there's no one size fits all set of rules to follow to ensure a life long quit. I think education about this addiction is a key aspect along with personal commitment to improve your own life (health, finances, freedom from the slavery of addiction). Most everyone finds the combination and the right mindset eventually as long as they keep trying in earnest to quit.

 

Remember, this quitting thing takes a lot of time and caring maintenance even after the early days of craves are pretty much over. We would all like it to be a much quicker process but it just is not. Years and years of conditioning our minds with smoking takes time to unravel. 

[JimHannoonen]

Over a 30 year stretch? Probably a dozen or so if I were to venture a guess. Other than one 2 year quit, none really lasted more than a few days.

I never had the right mindset before now.

 

[Whispers]

I smoked for about 15 years before my first attempt, it was cake. 2 1/2 years ezpz like sarge says. Life happened and it was exactly what linda T is going through, i cracked and went back to smoking for over 2 years... I tried and tried, 3 weeks blown 1 month blown 2 weeks blown 3 months blown. I'm way over 10 in my 8 year fight and i started the battle a few months before my 40th birthday back then. And jim, its all mindset. i totally agree

[Lust4Life]

No clue how many times I tried. I do know I thought about quitting everyday -  when my smoking increased to nearly 1ppd.  

 

Like sazerac - I abstained while pregnant & breastfeeding.  Looking back - I never really quit. I abstained.  

 

Something clicked in in my brain & I viewed smoking as an addiction not a bad habit. It is a true addiction. 

 

I read Allen Carr’s book & quit. I had to reread it a few times. 

 

Being an active participant in a quit forum was key for me. I read, posted, played games - anything to stay distracted until the early, intense craves passed.

 

People will offer many scenarios & quit methods/advice.  Ultimately- you have to decide how you will quit, how you will stay quit & why you will stay quit for the rest of your life.

 

 

[WeegieWoman]

I think this is my seventh attempt. Each one I learned a lot! I tried lots of different quit methods: gum, patches, lozenges, champix, hypnotherapy, nhs weekly support, pharmacy support. This time stuck as I've said before but three people I know got diagnosed with cancer in one week. I quit that week and I've been strong ever since. FYI the one lass with lung cancer, she died, barely 40 with a young family. The other two are doing great, throat and skin. That was the kick up the back side I needed. It was a blessing for me. 

If at first you dont succeed, try again. 

[MLMR]

Once 3 yrs, 9 months, once nearly 6 months, once about a month and various times between 1 day and few weeks. The 3 year period was my first quit ever. After that, I've always felt that I could not 'beat' myself, as if it's about competition and winning. I've also had the experience that knowledge, grasping how it works, somehow seems to fail on second attempts and at times it made me truly miserable.  Mindset,  beliefs, obviously played a bigger role back than. I know Ive never ever been content with smoking, I hated it and that thought alone made me smoke twice as much. I won't be unique in that... I have good faith though that I'll be able to leave this all behind me. There's just to much truth and too many stories available, too much knowledge to be ignored, it's too 2018 to be still smoking. So.. steady as  I go!

[Boo]

If we're talking attempts that lasted for a week or more, I threw away four of those.

 

If we're talking attempts where I got out of bed in the morning and said "I quit" but was smoking again by the end of the day, I lost count of those.

 

Somewhere in the haze of all that smoke, I lost the ability to differentiate between excuses and reasons.

[Doreensfree]

In my 52 year smoking career...I've lost count of my feeble attempts to quit....

Always had one foot in ...and one foot out.....

This last one had to count...it was my last chance....I put my whole self in....and stayed in.....

[notsmokinjo]

OK....

 

I always quit if pregnant, it was easy.. oh preggas, don't smoke and that was it.... but just like @Sazerac said it was never a real quit, I knew the whole time I was going to smoke again when the kid was born or whatever... so in my case the day I switched to bottles and wasn't feeding I lit up.

 

Quitting with the intention to never smoke again... hmmm... 3 counting this one, using Boos it lasted a week rule... there was an abortive Champix attempt that didn't even see me get to the quit date.... and too many not even 48hr quits to count. So I have used cold turkey, champix, patches (lasted until the blisters appeared about 2 hours in) and NRT gum...

 

1. Quit cold turkey on a whim and it lasted almost 7 years but looking back at it now its a miracle it lasted as long as it did because let me tell you those  6 years, 8 months & 22 days that I threw away I was looking for a 'justifiable' reason to quit the whole time and first 'decent' one I got I took.

 

2. Around the month mark when  my daughter who was 3-4 emptied her money box in my lap and told me to buy smokes cos I was yucky.

 

3. 9 months and counting.

 

If I am honest.... this is it, I don't have another one in me but I don't think that matters anymore because this one is it... I don't smoke anymore... I know I can last 24 hours with a smoke so that's all I have to do get up in the morning, decide today I do not smoke, and then not smoke for the day, its only 24 hours....nothing, and then I repeat it the next day. I have had a pretty  crazy year so I know that I can face tragedy without a smoke, I can face teenage (even though she is only 12) hormones without a smoke, I can face stress, I can face uncertainty and fear and happiness and joy and celebration all without smokes. I can even face a packed shopping centre without a smoke and I don't do crowds, not at all, not one bit.

 

The boys have all said it, its about the mind set... my mind set this time is that I will always be a smoker because the addiction will always be there, I just choose not to smoke today, tomorrow or ever again and I don't do it. That's it... noone else can put a smoke in my mouth, light it and draw back... I have full control over that, me, and I am choosing not to do it. See this works for me... it doesn't work for everyone. But I can promise you, 1 smoke will see me a pack a day within a week.... I am never prepared to take that risk again.

Edited September 11, 2018 by notsmokinjo

[johnny5]

I smoked for about 20 years and spent the last ten years in a cycle of trying to cut down, making an attempt to quit, getting frustrated and relapsing, smoking heavily, cutting down, making an attempt to quit, getting frustrated and relapsing...you get the idea.

 

I probably had about 20 quit attempts my last ten years as a smoker.  I think 44 days was the longest quit, before this one.  I had a lot that lasted less than a week or two. 

 

I look at those short quits as well intended but poorly educated.  I was always giving up something I thought I loved and was not focusing on the actual benefits to quitting.  Once I started to educate myself about the benefits, it became easier.  Allen Carr helped me a lot as did support groups like this one.  Once I started to focus on the positives and realize that the negatives were temporary, it became easier for me to finally quit.

[c9jane29]

I don't think how many times matters because it's HOW you quit that makes the difference. 

You can quit a hundred times by yelling "I QUIT!" and then "don't buy any more" aka smoke everyone else's...or providing yourself excuses "only when drinking", "only with my coffee", "only,only,...." But, this is not quit.

The quit that matters is the educated quit; the quit that understands that "one=all", "Always Vigilant" and of course N.O.P.E.