Chill. Who Knew?

[cpk]

Chill.

This is a word more than one person has thrown my way.

 

Maybe a really important word because I have had to finally bring

my quit into my real world, which is not very chill.

 

Chill?

Smoking was a fake way I chilled. Fake because don't you remember

hot smoke in your mouth on a scorching summer day? I mean...really.

That was NOT a chill. Very cold ice water is a chill on a scorcher day.

 

Chill.

Yes, as a smoker I meditated, swam, did yoga, chanted and danced

in the street...but now I think those were the sprinkles...the actual cake

was smoking. And the icing was smoking.

 

Chill.

I am not good at it. But I am beginning to realize keeping my quit

depends on this word.

 

Chill: How do you old phartes do it when your life is really really stressed?

[Evelyn]

Stick with NOPE

[Evelyn]

Btw love your signature

[cpk]

Okay. Nope is the dinner. What's for dessert? You know not TWIX or KITKATS, they are off the table for me, although I recently cheated and chilled down on a KitKat! :)

[babs609]

Recent stressors in my life...particularly this past sunday....I RAN...ran like the wind. 

But that's not realy chillin, is it?

 

To be honest....I haven't "chilled" since returning from Daytona....Down there I was chillin on the beach.  Love being on the beach.  On a sunny day...like lounging just enough to dry off and get hot then it's back in the water for me.

 

I also love the beach in the early morning...walking and looking for seashells....makes me chill

 

and then the beach late afternoon...on a blanket with a good book...and the seagulls and waves are my soundtrack music

 

Chillin'

[Nicole Diver]

Cpk, I remember closing in at 8 months into my quit I was still sometimes feeling like I was jumping out of my skin and wondering, 'will this oral fixation ever go away?' 

 

I listen to a lot of youtube meditations and audibles.   I hear yoga is good but so far I've hated it.

There is nothing - but nothing - that helps like running though.  It just helps make things seem a little better.  I like burning the calories and all, but I mostly run just for the mental health side of it.

[Still winning]

My chill was knowledge.

 

I really accepted that my situation was proper shitty and so was smoking...then I cried...cause I realized smoking would just add another problem to my mountain of unaddressed problems. I'm not saying you're situation is the same but offering another version of chill...action!

 

For everything else I learnt how to breath. Even now, if something winds me up I take a deep breath, and another, and another...until I can think straight. I journal and blog, so it comes out of my head and I can "see" what I'm dealing with. I vent, I never used too! I was sooo private and repressed, now I'm a frequent flyer on the swear thread and my friends are getting to know me. 

 

In essence, you change! It's not scary tho Char, it's liberating!  Let yourself start to grow into who you were supposed to be and don't try and keep things the same out of fear. My best advice. xx

[Tyme2B]

Stress seems to be a trigger which immediately conjures up memories of how we used to be in our past smoking lives. I honestly believe that because we coped for so many years with a killer inhalation device called a cigarette that we did not learn good coping skills independent of that nasty device. Good feelings were triggered by a drug....a drug that managed to trick so many systems in our bodies into a false sense of wellbeing....but now we are forced to learn new ways of coping. Whether it be running, yoga, exercise, music or any other coping mechanism...we are learning healthy ways to teach us coping or chilling.....call it whatever but it still amounts to learning to live without the drug & the delivery device that we finally realized was slowly killing us. We chose to Quit & to live. I know your Quit is secure CPK. We KNOW our Quits are secure but we are still going to journey through some bumps in the road which are made more difficult by our learning to walk again....without that drug to give us a false sense of security. We will soon be running! But it all takes time. We have QUIT SMOKING people!! We rock because we are strong! We will learn to chill, to cope, to deal with the stressors in our life in a healthy, positive way. It just takes time!

Markus once said to me as I was struggling through my own withdrawal problems that he had noticed & admired the strength he was seeing on the train....he said.we may bend but we don't break! Markus is SO wise & I love those words. Thank you Markus!

[cpk]

Recent stressors in my life...particularly this past sunday....I RAN...ran like the wind. 

But that's not realy chillin, is it?

 

To be honest....I haven't "chilled" since returning from Daytona....Down there I was chillin on the beach.  Love being on the beach.  On a sunny day...like lounging just enough to dry off and get hot then it's back in the water for me.

 

I also love the beach in the early morning...walking and looking for seashells....makes me chill

 

and then the beach late afternoon...on a blanket with a good book...and the seagulls and waves are my soundtrack music

 

Chillin'

Wow. This gave me such insight. My longest quit (7 years) was when I lived in California...minutes from the beach. I lost that quit when circumstances were such that I had to leave. I literally started smoking when I was packing up the house. There IS something about the beach that seems to make smoking unnecessary.

[cpk]

My chill was knowledge.

 

I really accepted that my situation was proper shitty and so was smoking...then I cried...cause I realized smoking would just add another problem to my mountain of unaddressed problems. I'm not saying you're situation is the same but offering another version of chill...action!

 

For everything else I learnt how to breath. Even now, if something winds me up I take a deep breath, and another, and another...until I can think straight. I journal and blog, so it comes out of my head and I can "see" what I'm dealing with. I vent, I never used too! I was sooo private and repressed, now I'm a frequent flyer on the swear thread and my friends are getting to know me. 

 

In essence, you change! It's not scary tho Char, it's liberating!  Let yourself start to grow into who you were supposed to be and don't try and keep things the same out of fear. My best advice. xx

There IS a lot of fear. You hit the nail on the head.

[cpk]

I quit in a small window of time with less stress. Guess there are pros and cons.

I maybe should have realized I made it a little easier on myself to start out.

I'll make sure to visit the board even if just to read.

Thanks for great suggestions...ALL WERE GOOD.

[cpk]

Love Old Pharte wisdom, and especially love Quit Goddesses wisdom. You ladies are so awesome and inspiring, and lovely with your beautiful skin and hair and smiles!!! :)

Your gorgeous profile photos are a testament to why all women who smoke should just quit RIGHT NOW. (Evelyn posted fun pix of herself in sparkly top recently saying she was some kind of fish, but we know this isn't true! She looked a bit upset, but she has a lovely nonsmoker's complexion!)

[El Bandito]

Hmmm....what is my chill?

 

I remember when all of a sudden my emotions were heightened. I seemed to have taken up crying, and emotional explosions.

 

"Oh No! what's happening? Why is everything so intense? So difficult?"

 

"Wait. This started since I quit smoking. Ah....so this is what they call 'life'? Wow. This is pretty cool. These feelings are in colour where they used to be stained grey and yellow by smoke. Wow. I'm going to spend some time in these feelings - and enjoy them"

 

Life in colour. That's my chill. 

[Frezflops]

Everyone has stressors smokers, former smokers and non smokers it is how you cope with it that makes it or breaks it so to speak. I have anxiety issues that I believe I was trying to stifle with a cigarette(obviously didn't work still felt anxious but added a nic fit on top of it) I have had a few issues in my life that truly stressed me out (I tend to internalize a lot of stuff and do not let anyone in or know that it is bothering me) I found, now, different ways of coping with stress and the crap life throws at me, it is not always perfect or helpful, but I try. One reason why I run and exercise. I also try new things lately to put my mind in a better place or at least occupy it. I am going back for my BSN and every semester I want to ask why this degree is so important for nurses to have and why some places require it, The classes so far are kind of fluffy so to speak and not adding anything to my career but I am plugging on and finishing it since I am well on my way. My point is that cigarettes are not going to make my stressors go away in fact they are going to add to it 100%. DO I after almost 3 years still think about cigs, occasionally, but it is a blip and then it goes away, I don't answer it or even give it any power. It is almost at this point, like I cant believe I ever smoked in the first place.

The one thing I will say is if you watched a smoker wake up from anesthesia you will see the effects that it has on you even if you are young. Their lungs are wet and phlegmy, and have a real risk of laryngospasms or bronchospasms. This does improve after a person has quit, their lungs are less wet so less risk. Of course that is just one risk that I mentioned. 

So I utilize exercise or a lot of deep breathing which I did a lot of in the beginning. I also did  a lot of crying in the first few weeks. Life is full of hills and valleys sometimes you have to just ride the waves to reach the other side.

 

Sorry about rambling on and on just had coffee lol

[cpk]

Thank you, again, for sharing and caring.

[cpk]

I cry more now than I ever did as a smoker. I find it strange and weird and don't much like it. Guess I'm still getting used to living life in color. On the flip side, when I am happy sometimes I feel so euphoric I feel like I am on drugs, which I'm not! That's cool if that's the new normal.

[cpk]

Hmmm....what is my chill?

 

I remember when all of a sudden my emotions were heightened. I seemed to have taken up crying, and emotional explosions.

 

"Oh No! what's happening? Why is everything so intense? So difficult?"

 

"Wait. This started since I quit smoking. Ah....so this is what they call 'life'? Wow. This is pretty cool. These feelings are in colour where they used to be stained grey and yellow by smoke. Wow. I'm going to spend some time in these feelings - and enjoy them"

 

Life in colour. That's my chill. 

This is, hands down, my most favorite comment you have ever posted. I adore it and am going to copy it into my "quit journal." :)

[El Bandito]

This is, hands down, my most favorite comment you have ever posted. I adore it and am going to copy it into my "quit journal." :)

Stop it!

 

I'm blushing. (In colour) ;)

[cpk]

Stop it!

 

I'm blushing. (In colour) ;)

Oh, and such a cute blush ;)

[El Bandito]

Oh, and such a cute blush ;)

Another benefit of quitting....a complexion.

 

I am not one for yoga and the like - but a spot of 'mindfulness' can really help with stress. You can get spiritual about it..or just take a little moment to BE....

 

Works for me.