I'm back and starting from scratch.

[Linda]

@JustinHoot99 Hang in there you can do this!!!

[jillar]

Yay, done with hell week @JustinHoot99 keep it up. Don't forget to update your profile to your new quit date so I won't accidentally make a monthaversary celebration thread for you like I did today

[MarylandQuitter]

On 11/1/2021 at 10:28 AM, JustinHoot99 said:

So I made it to 44 days.  My work trip got extended though and the long work days away from home finally brought me to the point I gave in and smoked on 10/23.  So I failed my previous quit.  I have no issue w/ the term fail, I did not meet my objective which was to not smoke again, and therefore failed the objective.  And pretty much instantly I was back up to full addiction resuming my previous pack a day.  Any lessons learned?  No.  It was a long, stressful work trip, but I knew what I was doing, when I did it, and knew what the result would be. So now I get the joy of not only losing the 44 days of red X's on my calendar I worked so hard to get and was so proud of, I get to go through the 3 days of nicotine withdraw.  Someone hit me in the head w/ the skillet. 

Anyone know how to reset the ticker start date?

Here's a skillet, since you asked. You're right, you didn't learn anything and never will until you understand that you have to keep your quit separate from everything else in your life. You have to keep it separate to protect it. Smoking was part of every waking moment of our lives. You cannot approach your quit the same way because regardless of what happens in life, your quit is protected elsewhere and cannot be touched. It must be treated this way.

 

This will not be the last time a work trip is extended. More stressful things will happen too. People close to you will die, get sick, lose jobs, divorce and so on. None of that is an excuse to smoke. There are no excuses - only a choice to smoke which proves that you don't care enough about your quit to protect it.

 

Today, your goal should be to implement a new mindset and a place for your quit where nothing can get at it. Protect it as if you were protecting a loved one from a murderer. Love yourself enough to protect yourself from an addiction that is trying to murder you.

 

You will do this. No options. Tuck your chin and ride out the cravings. The more time you put in between your last cigarette, the easier it gets. Eventually, you will not even consider smoking. It won't enter your mind. Continue to learn about this drug addiction, treat it as a drug addiction and keep your quit separate from your daily activities. Trust me. It works. 

[Kris]

@MarylandQuitter You are a tough guy!  You tell it like it is even if we don't want to hear it.  I am lucky I do not have a job to worry about, no divorce (widow), most of everyone has already died, sick, yes but have been sick from things I had before quitting so they do not count.  
 

I already have the skillet for cooking but am not opposed to hit myself in the head if need be.

LOL

[KEL]

In recovery, they tell us (or used to tell us) to quit what was going to kill us first. I sensed that nicotine wasn't really considered in the same life-threatening category as my drug of choice booze. Why? Well, its unlikely you would mow down an innocent while driving smoking. 

I believe this attitude did me a disservice all of these years because of the fact that I saw it as an aid to not drinking which allowed me to continue the slow-poison.

When I did finally try to stop, it was so hard because, unlike booze, I could smoke and function at work, etc. In fact, it seemed to "help" me deal with life without booze.

Yet for me, as for all of us, it was slowly sucking the life out of me.

"Today, your goal should be to implement a new mindset and a place for your quit where nothing can get at it. Protect it as if you were protecting a loved one from a murderer. Love yourself enough to protect yourself from an addiction that is trying to murder you." This is exactly the mind-set that is called for in addressing any addiction INCLUDING smoking.

Thanks for the tough love. 

 

 

 

[Linda]

@KEL Very well said and so true!!! Thanks for sharing

[Gus]

So true @KEL. Guarding my quit because I am keeping it!