Plan or no plan?

[Parsley]

Ok...when I quit, I had a plan....date and time and supplies.

My husband quit spontaneously.

I am trying to help a friend quit....she has tried several times spontaneously "this is the last one"......

Everyone is different of course but how did you do it ?

plan.....no plan. ?

[Whispers]

A plan gets my vote (A plan to fight the craves/triggers)

Edited June 27, 2019 by Whispers

[jillar]

I didn't have a plan because I didn't know I should have one but I knew I needed to quit so I prepared by not smoking in the areas I smoked in. That enabled me to disassociate those places with smoking and as a result I could go into those areas and not crave a smoke.

Your friend is lucky to have you to get clues from. I would also recommend telling them about us so we can help support them

[Mee]

Plain and simple I had no plan.  I was fortunate enough to find the forum and do it with support.  

I think the biggest part of quitting is realizing that it is possible and everyone has the power within to do it. 

I would advise your friend to do the homework and read all the information available here.  

Hopefully it will help ease her into the process needed to quit.

[Sazerac]

Great to see you, Parsley, 

congrats on your 10 months of Freedom !

Hope you have escaped all the flooding in your part of the world.

 

I quit on a whim and as a personal challenge to myself.

I was completely ignorant about addiction.

I lurked here and there, educating myself and joined the QTrain in the tenth month, or so, of my quit,

thankful to everybody that had shared their stories and for the incredible resource of information compiled here.

 

[Ankush]

I was already fed up of being a smoker but never managed to quit, Joel's videos encouraged me to take the step of going cold turkey and so I made a plan. Big part of my plan was to join a forum for people who wanted to or had quit smoking. The other part of my plan was to keep make myself mentally prepared for the withdrawal of the first 3 days. I had come to know to have a lot of juice and water (during the first 3 days) and to do deep breathing. Once I joined the Train, I just stuck to the NOPE pledge and stayed quit a day at a time (and am still staying quit). The support I received during the initial days of joining the Train was also very helpful.

 

Bottom line - every person will have their own way of quitting smoking.

[Paul723]

I started reading everything to know what I was up against.  Everything I felt or experienced was laid out and explained by those that had already quit; there is plenty of information (and support) online. An educated quit is a strong quit.  

[sgt.barney]

"Plans" for quitting are generally code for "procrastination." 
"I can't quit until I've got my Magic Plan in place ... " 

Just quit now. 

EZPZ

[Martian5]

I really had no plan at the beginning only a desire to quit.  As I went into my quit during the first week I set up kind of plan and that was to educate myself more and to find support -- that is how I got here!!!

[Parsley]

Thank you for all of your responses I have in fact told her about this site . And I agree not one shoe fits all . 

Still very wet here as far as flooding goes, it has been a dreadfully wet year I really feel bad for the farmers it's not good 

Sorry for the multiple post but I'm not on here much just wanted you to know I bought an opal and diamond ring with my money saved from not smoking !

[Parsley]

One more thing that I remember from when I was getting ready to quit it is true that it is a lot of procrastination I couldn't be this day and it couldn't be that day and it couldn't be this day and it couldn't be that day, so I could have avoided that if I had just done it spontaneously.

[JimHannoonen]

"A goal without a plan is just a dream"

 

Someone said that once..

 

You have to have a plan. You wouldn't just hop in a boat and attempt to sail to Thailand would you? No, you would plan the trip. Map it out and pack supplies, etc.

 

Quitting smoking is the same.

 

Benjamin Franklin supposedly once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."

 

 

[Parsley]

I understand what you're saying about a plan and I was successful with the plan , because I finally put down my foot and did it but it sounds like some people have a plan that drags on forever . So there again I guess there are many ways to do things whatever works I guess is the only thing that matters 

[Whispers]

My first quit i just quit with no plan outside of the words of a good friend who had been quit, he said just get through the first month and you're in the clear. I believed him and that quit was quite easy but blown at 2 1/2 years. I wasn't educated on the addiction and had no plan to face the triggers and craves as i really thought i was done with them. This quit i learned and have that plan to face the triggers/craves head on if they ever come back and i educated myself and i also learn from others stories. Move a muscle, change a thought is golden for me . BTW my friend who gave me that advice back in 2010 has blown his quit as still smoking to day(just get through the month)..

 

 

FWIW

[Parsley]

Absolutely! And wholeheartedly! This site made my quit happen for me , I fell off the wagon once and came back and you've helped me through and I am here smoke-free as is my husband ! Alan Carr's book was also huge to me 

[MLMR]

I just re-read my first post here:

 

'Hi there, this is me introducing myself. First time here,  but not new to this whole quitting thing. Have been smoking on and off since I was 15 (in my mid-thirties right now). My most serious quit lasted for three whole years. I am sweating carrots  (yes, in Holland we do that when we are afraid) by the thought alone, to start this journey all over again. I am not so sure how to handle it this time. I feel like I know everything there is to know  and still don't feel confident enough. In the past I used to read a lot about addiction, fear, etc. I bought different kinds of cleansing tea, drank water until I became a water balloon, tried to meditate and then always ended up failing miserably. I have a history of depression and anxiety. I also have the experience of becoming calmer and much more relaxed at non-smoking life, but only gradually after the first year. I know it will take time. I know I want to take that time. And still I am terrified.  My quit date is next friday, 24-08-2018. I shall look around a bit, hopefully it will motivate me. I do not need willpower or pride, but faith. That much I know..'

 

So, not really a plan, 'just' a strong desire. I think thats mainly what got me through so far. For me, every phase is so different and I have no golden rule exept  not lighting the damn thing. 

[Boo]

I had a plan, but it turned out to be pretty much useless.  For instance: I spent a lot of time thinking about how I was going to deal with being around other people smoking.  Then I quit and found that I was indifferent to other people smoking.  The sight of someone smoking and the smell of the cigarette had no affect on me either negative or positive.

 

I don't like nitpicking over semantics, but I would go with preparation over planning when starting the quitting process.  Learn about the nicotine trap, the psychology of addiction, and the misguided "beliefs" that lead to us "needing" a cigarette.  If you're firmly rooted in the fundamentals you can sort everything else out with ease.

 

6 hours ago, sgt.barney said:

"Plans" for quitting are generally code for "procrastination." 
"I can't quit until I've got my Magic Plan in place ... " 

 

I know a guy who has been "planning" on quitting for over two years now.  He has all the information he needs.  I think at this point he's waiting for a Bigfoot to ride by on a unicorn and deliver the magic code for quitting.

[Martian5]

^^^^^ Boo I like your idea of going with preparation -- it is kind of what I did.  Sometimes if you put a Plan into place and one little thing goes wrong can lead to making excuses for not completing the plan -- so I go with preparation!!!!

[Boo]

34 minutes ago, Martian5 said:

Sometimes if you put a Plan into place and one little thing goes wrong can lead to making excuses for not completing the plan -- so I go with preparation!!!!

 

That's particularly true for those of us who are a bit, what the mental health professionals call, obsessive-compulsive.

 

If one aspect of the plan goes sideways, there's always a temptation to throw the whole thing out and start over...later.  Much later.

[Whispers]

45 minutes ago, Martian5 said:

^^^^^ Boo I like your idea of going with preparation -- it is kind of what I did.  Sometimes if you put a Plan into place and one little thing goes wrong can lead to making excuses for not completing the plan -- so I go with preparation!!!!

Yes, Great Delivery there @Boo

[NADA]

No plan whatsoever.  Went to bed and committed to quit the next morning.  The only weapon in my arsenal was to berate myself for being a weak "kitty" (insert synonym) whenever I felt I might cave in.  True story.  And it worked.

[Mee]

I planned many times to quit.  I planned and made an appointment with a hypnotist and that plan failed.  I planned and made an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic for their smoking cessation and went to one appointment - that plan failed.  I planned to quit this day and planned to quit that day.  I would buy the patches and would use half before returning to smoking.

I even tried the gum.  

When I found the forum, I started reading and decided that I wanted to be a part of this group.  I just stopped.  My only plan now is to continue smoke free.  

I do not know what the magic formula of this forum is.  I did start to have a high regard for the people fighting to save lives.  I wanted to give them success.  I could not let them down.

 

[Whispers]

Some people use a Quit "toolbox"

 

 

[greenlight]

I quit suddenly in the middle of the day without a plan. It's like something just flipped in the right position in my head and I was just done. I was sick of it and increasingly annoyed at myself for previously blowing a nearly year-long quit due to basically getting cocky, i.e. "I've now beaten this addiction, I can smoke socially if I feel like it and leave it at that + all the other BS lies I fed myself so I would be "allowed" to smoke again. Of course that social smoking plan quickly turned into me smoking full time just like I had done before... duh. So this last time I just had enough. I was on the street, took a cigarette out of the pack, realised it was the last one of the pack and I'd have to go get some more, and I thought what and idiot I was for ever blowing my previous quit. And then something just flipped in my head and I was done. I decided there and then that I will never smoke again, this is it, I'm not doing this anymore, ever again. And I didn't buy more, I went home instead and signed up to a forum and posted on there straight away. 

 

7 years later that was without a doubt the best moment of clarity I've ever had. 

[Sazerac]

Please, stop it with any bullshit about How To Quit.

All it has to do with is your choice.

Either, you smoke or, you don't smoke.

Personally, I don't care how you get there.

The happiness comes with your choice,  TO BE FREE  and accept ,  Not One Puff EVER.