The Rear View Mirror And Years Quit

[Markus]

I haven't been around that much but I was here yesterday and was glad to see all of the long quits. I haven't written in a few years but would like to post a few thoughts about the quit process.

 

Looking at the new and young quits, and the never-ending fight to gain a foothold on the sticky quit, I just wanted to let the newer quits I see on the QT know, that you'll get there too, by sticking to your plan and what you will learn as you stay quit.

 

This is only a mind game, where your self control is being tested constantly. It wears on you as you overcome the triggering of craves through attrition, trying to process them simply as your mind/body healing itself naturally through recognition and reaction. That someting so elementary is so taxing is hard to understand sometimes.

 

It really requires no action other than acknowledgement of the particular craving and the processing of it.

 

Repetition is the key. The first triggers and craves that you will defeat are the ones you encounter the most. The most infrequent ones are the last to fall, and they do, through repetition.

 

If you will just keep doing your normal daily and nightly activities sans the nicotine delivery, eventually you'll roll over the addiction and leave it behind. Sounds overly simplistic reading this but remember that you will trigger and crave and try to understand what caused it. Don't be alarmed and dont make a hasty judgement, because sometimes you can't put your finger on the particular cause to your effect.

 

Could be romancing the cigarette subconsciously and missing that old smoky life, since things have changed and you don't know who you are sometimes. I mean you were this... smoker... and now maybe scared and are wanting to go back to what you see as normal. That is when you get tough and remember that you control your own mind and heart and that you call the shots. It's okay to feel weak, but know that you didn't get this way in a few days so it will take a few months of honest work to get out of the hole.

 

You will make it, even if you feel like you won't. This will not kill you but it will make you unbelievably strong if you'll just stick to your quit plan and your back up plan, and allow yourself some time to heal.

 

So be militant anti smoking, and  remember that you are in a fight and that you are unwinding your whole being from the addiction so walk like it and act like it.

 

Once smoking and cigarettes were every part of you, and now...well now they are not. That hurts and that is painful, but it is the work you have to do, so let the process work. Pay it forward, and stay as strong as you can as you use what you have learned.

 

And if you fall, it isn't the end. You start again. A dream becomes a wish, and that wish becomes your reality as you work the quit. Time is on your side now, so dont give that addiction any more of you. You're in control of your mind and body and you've taken the chains off. Don't put them back on.

 

KTQ,

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Markus
Typos

[jillar]

Thank you Markus and congratulations on a decade quit!

Edited October 29, 2018 by jillar

[Markus]

Thanks Jillar 

[MLMR]

Thanks, thanks and thanks for this post. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by MLMR

[Doreensfree]

Brilliant as ever post....

Good to see you back on board ....

[Tammy]

Great read Markus, and yes you surely know your way around a quit, so thanks for the wonderful advice, and congratulations on a decade of sticking up for your health and well-being. Thanks for the inspiration as well.

[Sazerac]

It is great to read your words again, Markus.

You were a profound influence on my quit and it is great to have the opportunity to express my gratitude

and see your positive effect on even more quitters.

 

[Cristóbal]

Hi Markus,

 

It is great to see you again, I remember you from QSMB.

 

This is a really good post, because it explains to the reader that nicotine addiction has no intelligence. It is primitive, and not the 10 meter tall monster so many people think it is.

 

We have intelligence, and we can learn.

 

Quote

 

Repetition is the key. The first triggers and craves that you will defeat are the ones you encounter the most. The most infrequent ones are the last to fall, and they do, through repetition.

 

If you will just keep doing your normal daily and nightly activities sans the nicotine delivery, eventually you'll roll over the addiction and leave it behind.

 

 

This is wonderful !!!

 

 

Cristóbal

[Markus]

Thanks all for paying it forward because thats really important to cement that quit.The years roll up under you. It only drags on for a short time. I actually forgot my quit date, I thought it was Feb 11 but I got it straight now and was reading Divers 5 year, apparently she missed it (Jen).    This only proves that quitting causes absent mindedness in some people. Seriously though we retrain ourselves as Cristobal just mentioned, and are always retraining until we address every single trigger. I love that ancient post from the qsmb, I think its called "My Personal Assistant". It really is an accurate depiction of the human brain processing life after quitting and how it keeps track of what you have addressed or not with regard to triggers.

 

You don't have to be strong, just learn to roll with it and it's yours. It's just a mind game.

 

KTQ 

[Whispers]

8 minutes ago, Markus said:

 It's just a mind game.

It sure is

[Sazerac]

33 minutes ago, Markus said:

 I love that ancient post from the qsmb, I think its called "My Personal Assistant". It really is an accurate depiction of the human brain processing life after quitting and how it keeps track of what you have addressed or not with regard to triggers.

 

Is this the post you mean, @Markus ?

Executive Assistant

 

I bumped it btw.

[Markus]

7 hours ago, Sazerac said:

 

Is this the post you mean, @Markus ?

Executive Assistant

 

I bumped it btw.

 

That's it...thanks for the bump!

[Paul723]

Bump