New to this Forum!

[Doreensfree]

I very often press the wrong button ...lol...

[Mona]

6 hours ago, Irene said:

Oops sorry Mona...was not supposed to be a laughing emoji but a like...thick fingers

 

Ha ha...no need to apologize Irene.  Hope you get to experience what I was talking about!

[Sazerac]

ugh.  Jeff.  

I could see you setting yourself up for relapse and tried to get information to you to avert one.

 

You have the  power to stop obeying the addiction.

When you use this power, you will keep a quit.

Otherwise you will continue the torture.

The choice is clear.

 

and it is a choice between life, freedom

and

death, illness, despair.

The despair might not be your despair but, it will certainly be your family's watching you poison yourself.

 

I say, quit playing this game. 

 

 

[Mac#23]

Hi Irene,

 Welcome to quit train. I see you have prior experience quitting smoking but have yet to succeed. So here's the deal. Your total commitment is what is required to release you from the shackles of the nicotine monster. There is no easy way to accomplish this task. There are ways to slowly ease away from nicotine but no easy quit. You must choose to be a non smoker and then work hard to achieve it. There are a lot of videos and articles to help inform you and motivate you. To achieve a healthier lifestyle you must make smart but hard choices.  By joining this site you have enlisted the best support system around. So, stay safe,make smart choices and always remember to Nope.

[JH63]

13 hours ago, Sazerac said:

I could see you setting yourself up for relapse and tried to get information to you to avert one.

 

13 hours ago, Sazerac said:

I say, quit playing this game.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

You are right, I did set myself up to relapse! I let it happen again. I don't know what to do. I wasn't stressed out and I wasn't beaten down by cravings or urges! I don't know what happened. I did read the info that you gave me, but I guess I just read it. I started having a problem as soon as I hit that thirty day mark. It has happened to me so many times before. Once after a 17 week quit. I never have an excuse for failing because I honestly don't know why I'm failing. Others have quit after smoking for as long as I have. I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit.

Take Care!

    Jeff

[Mac#23]

3 minutes ago, JH63 said:

 I started having a problem as soon as I hit that thirty day mark. It has happened to me so many times before. Once after a 17 week quit. I never have an excuse for failing because I honestly don't know why I'm failing. Others have quit after smoking for as long as I have. I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit.

 

Hi Jeff,

I'm sorry to hear that you relapsed again. This is just another self inflicted junkie action. I'm sorry to sound like a broken record but you need to make smarter choices. You need to choose to be a non smoker and then commit to making that happen at all costs. Then you need to be confident in and work hard to protect your quit. No one is going to do this for you. Your most recent relapse was bound to happen because sub consciously you were setting yourself up for failure. Your posts were about your quit but nothing in those posts depicted confidence. You were always bringing up the possibility of relapse because that's what you always do. This tells me that you knew that you were going to relapse and we're waiting for the perfect time to let the junkie loose. Myself and the others will be here when you want to try again but next time be prepared to fight with confidence for a better and healthier version of yourself. Be safe, make smart choices and good luck. 

[Doreensfree]

2 hours ago, JH63 said:

 

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

You are right, I did set myself up to relapse! I let it happen again. I don't know what to do. I wasn't stressed out and I wasn't beaten down by cravings or urges! I don't know what happened. I did read the info that you gave me, but I guess I just read it. I started having a problem as soon as I hit that thirty day mark. It has happened to me so many times before. Once after a 17 week quit. I never have an excuse for failing because I honestly don't know why I'm failing. Others have quit after smoking for as long as I have. I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit.

Take Care!

    Jeff

Jeff....

Your no more addicted to nicotine than anyone else here ...I smoked 52 years ...now that's a addict .!!!!

To quit you have to out your whole self in ....you know that old hokey cokey dance ...

It's no good being half hearted ....

You have to soak in all the knowledge here ...your quit is your 1st priority...you guard it with your life ...

If you don't ,those cigerettes are going to kill you ...like the millions before you .

You do it the same as everyone else here ...Never Stick Anything In Your Mouth And Set Fire To It .

You only have to ask your self one question ..Do I want to smoke or not ?????

If it's NO....then get your backside back here ,stay in your seat until Freedom ...

 

[Sazerac]

Why are you continuing to smoke now ?  Right this minute ?

 

You are creating a miserable reality for yourself, perpetuating a miserable reality.

Only you have the power to re-invent yourself as a free being.

I hope you do not delay.

[Mona]

9 hours ago, JH63 said:

I never have an excuse for failing because I honestly don't know why I'm failing.

 

You are failing because you choose to smoke.  In order to succeed, you need to choose to NOT smoke.

[JohnQ]

8 hours ago, JH63 said:

.... I wasn't stressed out and I wasn't beaten down by cravings or urges! I don't know what happened...

 

I've been down that road many times before Jeff.  I smoked for almost 40 years, quit and relapsed many times.  I also set myself up for failure in the past with many idiotic excuses for lighting up, and I used the same "I don't know what happened"...    But deep down inside I knew what happened, and I'm sure you do too.   

 

Who are we kidding? we're just Nicotine addicts,  like everyone else I've had many of these Nicotine withdrawals in the last 3 weeks that I've experienced it many times before.  I also used to think that "I wasn't beaten down by cravings or urges" because these withdrawals are not overwhelming urges, for me they were feeling of emptiness that I needed to fulfill with a smoke, they were not strong but they kept dragging on and on.  Now every time I feel it, I log on to read, somehow the Celebrations forum is the one that has been helping me the most, all those successful quits with years of freedom inspire me to make my pledge of NOPE and kick the Nicotine monster in the butt!  Every time I did it I gained more and more confident, now it's not "I hope" but "I know" I quit for good. 

 

I'm really sorry to have to say this:  You and I are Addicts and we must always remind ourselves that 1 drag will make you become an permanent addict again. 

And I'm also sorry to contradict to your statement "I wasn't beaten down by cravings" because you did, I used to think the same because that's the trick of the Nicotine addiction, people might be fooled that the Nicotine withdrawals feel light, not strong urges, but they are extremely powerful, otherwise we wouldn't relapse again and again.  When I realized this perception about the Nicotine addiction I started seeking for help and found this site, fighting the Nicotine withdrawals is the main reason why I keep logging in.  We need stick to this site to fight this addiction Jeff, we all need help because it is a very powerful addiction, if it was easy to quit smoking the Tobacco industry would have been out of business a long time ago. 

 

Once you determine you want to quit for good, stay close to this forum and fight the addiction.  You can do it Jeff.  Hope to see you back here soon.

 

 

[Lilley]

Jeff really sorry to read this.

 

There is really only one reason why you're failing and that's because you want to smoke more than you want to quit. Look around at all the success stories on this thread and you'll find the one thing they all have in common is their passion about being non smokers.

 

We all know how to quit - we just stop buying and smoking cigarettes.

 

You will do it

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jillar]

10 hours ago, JH63 said:

. I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit

 

All you have to do is not put another cigarette in your mouth and light it Jeff. That really is all there is to it. How exactly did you lose this quit? Did you make a conscious effort to go to the store and buy a pack? If so, wouldn't that time have been better spent here on an SOS? Did you already have a pack stashed somewhere? If so then you never had confidence in your quit or yourself to quit. With your relapse history you should throw away anything to do with smoking

Trust me Jeff, when you're really ready to quit you will do anything you can to save the time you have in already and keep your quit. 

[Sazerac]

Dig these, Jeff.

 

Some People Won't Be Happy Until They Relapse

 

I've Relapsed And I Hate It

[JH63]

@jillar I have the wrong mindset. I have done nothing but think about this since I relapsed. As I said, I set myself up for this. It's like everything was going along fine, then I hit my one month mark and something changed in my thinking. It was like, goal achieved, game over. I'm not sure I said that right. I felt shaky or fragile about this and other quits all along. I don't have the resolve I need to succeed at quitting. Honestly, I don't know where I'm going to get it from! I can quit again, but without that resolve it won't last. I don't expect any sympathy from anyone. It's all on me!

Yes, it would have been better for me to have spent time here on an SOS! I did come back here and read my own pre - posted SOS. I even posted in the forum, but I didn't tell anyone straight out that I was in trouble.

 

No, while I'm quit I keep no cigarettes in my house or truck. On the way home from town, the day before I started smoking again, I consciously stopped at the store and bought two packs of cigarettes. I didn't open or smoke them that day. But I opened them and smoked two the next day. Then within the next few days I went right back to where I was before I quit.

Take Care!

     Jeff

[Nana20]

12 hours ago, JH63 said:

 

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

You are right, I did set myself up to relapse! I let it happen again. I don't know what to do. I wasn't stressed out and I wasn't beaten down by cravings or urges! I don't know what happened. I did read the info that you gave me, but I guess I just read it. I started having a problem as soon as I hit that thirty day mark. It has happened to me so many times before. Once after a 17 week quit. I never have an excuse for failing because I honestly don't know why I'm failing. Others have quit after smoking for as long as I have. I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit.

Take Care!

    Jeff

 

Hi Jeff,

I am a newbie, so I am not as experienced as those pp, but I am 19 days into my quit. But if I may I think the problem is you. Now I don't mean to sound mean, but everyday you have to commit to your quit. You say that you never have an excuse for failing. I don't think that there is an excuse out there that makes relapsing OK. You keep failing I think is because the craves and urges aren't assaulting you daily, yeah they are there, but barely noticeable. So You forget to reaffirm your commitment to quitting each and every day. No matter how easy or hard the cravings are. I made myself a SOS video to help me in case I want to smoke. I got the idea from the pre-post S.0.S. from the S.O.S sub-forum. I knew a letter wouldn't work, bur hard to deny a video of you telling yourself that you are an idiot if you light that cigarette up would work better for me. Maybe you need to think outside the box to make sure that you can protect your quit. Maybe you should try putting things in your quit plan that helps with times like these. I believe that you can do this. I believe you really want this. So you just have to allow yourself to do this. Think outside the box to deal with the Junkie side of you that has been able to allow yourself to say that it is okay to smoke. It is never okay to smoke, but if you do relapse take what worked from this quit and previous quits and put them towards a new quit, figure out your problem areas from last quit and make adjustments. You got this and if you want someone to help or just be there for you to vent or what not. Message me. We all will help you through this, YOU just have to let us.

[jillar]

10 minutes ago, JH63 said:

It's like everything was going along fine, then I hit my one month mark and something changed in my thinking. It was like, goal achieved, game over

 

Set a higher goal Jeff, one month isn't long enough to really see all the benefits quitting offers.

Get yourself a ticker for your signature. I used to love logging on everyday to see how much time, money and cigarettes not smoked I had accumulated.

Stick close to the forum, a big part of my success was from the shear determination to not let my quit buddies down by failing. All for one, and one for all!

[NADA]

13 hours ago, JH63 said:

I am very tired of playing this game, but I don't know how to quit.

 

Jeff - No one is going to be able to slap some sense into you.  That needs to come from within.  Snap out of this disastrous cycle and get this done once and for all.

 

 

 

[Mona]

1 hour ago, JH63 said:

I don't have the resolve I need to succeed at quitting. Honestly, I don't know where I'm going to get it from!

 

As you know, we're all very different so I can only speak for myself.  I spent a lot of time learning about nicotine addiction.  I learned that smoking does not relax me.  It does not help me to cope with stress.  It's does not keep me occupied on long drives.  The cigarette is not my friend.  I learned that the cigarette doesn't do a damn thing for me.  With that being said, why should I smoke?  Does it make sense to pay for something to slowly kill myself?  Do I want to die sooner than I have to?

 

...that is where my resolve comes from.

[Doreensfree]

So Jeff.....

What's it to be ????

Stay a miserable smoker tied to a addiction ....until you die .....or ....

Set yourself free....we can only tell you how wonderful it feels to not be shackled to a addiction ...

You have to get to Freedom and feel it for yourself ....

You have been given the best advice from everyone here ...specially the newbies ...!!!!

 

[Sazerac]

"As I said, I set myself up for this. It's like everything was going along fine,

then I hit my one month mark and something changed in my thinking.

It was like, goal achieved, game over. “

 

This new video from Joel addresses this issue

Taking A 21 Day Challenge To Quit Smoking

 

[JohnQ]

57 minutes ago, Sazerac said:

.....

This new video from Joel addresses this issue

Taking A 21 Day Challenge To Quit Smoking

 

 

Great video, Joel's explanation of the danger about this type of quit starting at about 5:10 mark really hit home for me, describing exactly how I failed many times in the past.  Well, not this time, I'm sticking to NOPE.  Jeff, please watch the video, I think you'll find it very beneficial.  Throw away those poison sticks and get back on the train with us.  Hope to see you back here soon.

 

[idontsmoke]

Hi Jeff, I just saw this post. I can relate to everything you said. Are you still here?

[JH63]

@idontsmoke Yes, I'm still here. I'm back to lurking, like I did before I became a member of the forum. I hope your quit is still going well!

      I am reading all I can about nicotine addiction long term. I have know for many years that I'm a nicotine addict. I think the part of my addiction that I've had trouble accepting is the fact that I will always be a nicotine addict. I will always have to guard any quit, no matter the length. I know now that back in my mid teens, when I smoked that first cigarette I changed my brain forever. It's a bad situation and very depressing!

Take Care of your quit!

    Jeff

[Reciprocity]

6 hours ago, JH63 said:

@idontsmoke Yes, I'm still here. I'm back to lurking, like I did before I became a member of the forum. I hope your quit is still going well!

      I am reading all I can about nicotine addiction long term. I have know for many years that I'm a nicotine addict. I think the part of my addiction that I've had trouble accepting is the fact that I will always be a nicotine addict. I will always have to guard any quit, no matter the length. I know now that back in my mid teens, when I smoked that first cigarette I changed my brain forever. It's a bad situation and very depressing!

Take Care of your quit!

    Jeff

It does get easier and easier to guard that quit Jeff, the longer you remain smoke free. It really does become effortless after a while. You have to be quit for at least a year to really start seeing that. Why not set 1 year as your next goal and use that time to research nicotine addiction and all the nasty things it really does to us both physically and mentally. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

[Nana20]

@JH63 I posted this on another thread, but I think it could benefit you as well.

 

I think that the decision to start smoking when we were kids(yes I believe that even people in their teens are kids) it has lead to a life spent in survival mode. We go from one craving to the next just surviving in between. I think that when we make the decision to quit it sets off a fear. A fear to plant roots (make a plan to quit) a fear to think/plan for the future. To trust ourselves, to let the joy of not smoking in. BUT if we trust in ourselves, OUR plan to quit. We plant those roots. We look toward the future with hope and determination. Then a true blessing will occur. OUR mindset will begin to change. If we can stick with it, then OUR thoughts and thought process will go from just living in survival mode to actually thriving. We will thrive if we allow ourselves to. It won't be easy, but then again nothing in life ever is. BUT there is more to life than survival. More to life than being chained. To go from one day to the next just shuffling through trying to make it to the next cigarette. Trying to stretch your time between craves so you can feel better about smoking. If you don't want that then I guess You have to make a decision. 

 

Are you going to allow cigarettes and smoking control you? Or are you going to go from surviving through life and addiction, or are you going to allow yourself to thrive. To plant some roots and to let the joy of life back in. To have a future It starts with NOPE the only one who can make that decision is you. It's YOUR life.