I really wish ...

[Karen]

there were nicotine anonymous meetings around here, because for sure I would attend.  Constantly thinking about how I think I want to smoke, but have not smoked. I didn't even post a daily pledge today. Feels like I am slowly losing my quit here. :sorry: but I don't want to.

[Nancy]

Karen, if you lose your quit..it is on you, not anyone else.  If you did not post your pledge...are leaving yourself an out.  Do it NOW!  The fact that there is not some kind of meeting you think might help is just a BS excuse.  You have come too far to believe this junkie thinking!

[REZ]

Most people can't last a week and here you are at a month! That is a big deal! Did you celebrate with the money you saved? $212 can be a nice celebration!

[I can do this]

You are doing awesome! I am still struggling at 2 months in but no way in the world I want to go back to that first week. Whatever you or I are feeling is nothing like that first week. You can do it! Hang in there!!

[buMbLeB]

there were nicotine anonymous meetings around here, because for sure I would attend.  Constantly thinking about how I think I want to smoke, but have not smoked. I didn't even post a daily pledge today. Feels like I am slowly losing my quit here. :sorry: but I don't want to.

 

You can lose your keys, you can lose your mind, but a quit you throw away.

 

You're only a month quit - fresh outta hell, and still back on weekends. You'll be thinking about it for a while yet, I guarantee it, but if you keep going, the day will come when you won't. Smoke now, and you'll spend every day after that thinking about not smoking, and how much you wish you'd stayed quit. It's your choice.

[Karen]

I need a frickin attitude adjustment. I'll keep reading and reading and listening to Joels words of wisdom. Don't know what else I can do at this point. And I did pledge. But just for today. 

i've even been thinking I would go buy a box of nic gum before I would take that first puff. This sucks, it's a lot of work, but I know it's worth it.

[buMbLeB]

I need a frickin attitude adjustment. I'll keep reading and reading and listening to Joels words of wisdom. Don't know what else I can do at this point. And I did pledge. But just for today. 

i've even been thinking I would go buy a box of nic gum before I would take that first puff. This sucks, it's a lot of work, but I know it's worth it.

 

I lol'd. It seems the attitude adjustment is underway. I agree with everything you wrote, except the part about nic gum. Don't do it. It might be "better" than a puff, but it might also lead to one.

 

You're quit, and that's it. 

[Runfree]

I need a frickin attitude adjustment.

 

YEP!

 

Don't know what else I can do at this point. 

 

You stop yourself from dancing around the problems and focus on the goodness/joy.  You set the decision and reality that you are a non-smoker deep deep in your soul.   You give your quit a beloved name and every time you think of anything other than being a non-smoker, you say it's name.

 

You replace your negative thinking with positive.  You flip the switch from victim and loss thinking and make it about the greatest gift of love you can give yourself.  Give it a name, nurture it and take care of it.  

 

Get outside.  Take a walk.  Nature.  Best remedy.

[Tink]

Karen remember you quit something really bad, you didn't give up anything good

 

Push through this any way you can and it will ease up

 

Get some exercise and up the tempo

 

1 month is awesome you do not want to go backwards and no nicotine or you will make things so much harder for yourself

 

You got this have more faith in yourself x

[Nicole Diver]

Most people can't last a week and here you are at a month! That is a big deal! Did you celebrate with the money you saved? $212 can be a nice celebration!

Agreed! Hold onto that rope, if you let go, you could very well be giving up your life to the addiction. You already proved you got what it takes. Just keep doing what you're doing. If you haven't read Allen Carr, he gave me a much needed attitude adjustment.

[Still winning]

The thing about these feelings is when they come along you can feel at the mercy of them if you let yourself but they always pass. Pleased to see you've had a word to yourself about mindset, it becomes crucial at the tough times to have already chosen not to smoke. That's the power of the nope thread. x

[Doreensfree]

I can only mirror the great advice you have been given....

If you havnt read Allen Carr...its a great read ,that has helped millions...he changed my way of thinking...

Me a addict...don't be stupid...I'm just a lady who happens to like a smoke...right...

No...I was a addict who kept on with her addiction,until she nearly had her two feet amputated...

You have a fabulous month smoke free...give yourself a massive pat on the back...you have been free a whole month..

That little nico monster is still whispering in your ear...have none of it....

Fasten your seat belt here a bit tighter...xx

[Sunnyside]

Karen, you may not want to hear this but i struggled for ages, mainly because I couldn't let go of the fact that I was a non-smoker.

 

That constant itch, really drive me mad for awhile. I kept imagine scenarios where I could give myself a reason to smoke.

 

You have gone through the physical side of it, now it's all mental, which can be far worst. Pledge Nope daily, from the moment you wake up, differently while you are struggling and post, post, post before you do anything. Karen take a deep breath a put one foot in front of the other, don't look back with fondness. The past is the past.

 

 

 

 

[bakon]

My dangler was bigger.....

 

 

We can wish for anything right? Ok I really wish I just got to use it more. Size doesn't matter.....at least to me it don't.

 

 

As for attitude change. It will get easier and you should go lick an ashtray next time it feels like you want a shit tasting mouth and stuffed up nose again. Or just go kiss a smoker and give them a big hug, ask to wear their jacket a while. Embrace the stench. Wear it. Then decide if that's you.

[Karen]

I've been reading allan car's book each night in bed before I fall asleep. I need to get this stuff drilled into my thick skull here. In my opinion my quit at this point should NOT be a daily struggle for me. So that can only mean it is my own attitude or perception that is messing with my brain. I HATE THIS! I am VERY PROUD of myself for quitting and I DO VALUE and LOVE my quit. Addiction is nothing new to me (alcohol) but this nicotine addiction really seems MUCH harder to get a grasp on and deal with on a daily basis. Definitely for me this is harder to manage for sure.

I've also been watching MANY of Joels videos. I'll watch more today. 

Thank you for all of your support, I was really very hesitant to post for help on this, but in past attempts to quit when I felt like this I DID'NT post for help and eventually quit posting all together, and ultimately threw my quit away:(.  

It's a new day and I CHOOSE not to follow that path.

[El Bandito]

Good post KL - that last one.

 

You have quit. Its done.

 

The only thing that can make you start again is if you choose to go get a cigarette, put into your mouth and light it. You are not going to do that.

 

You might not realise it Karen, but you have just crossed a bridge. When you look back, you will see it.

 

Great work!

[sgt.barney]

Feels like I am slowly losing my quit here. :sorry: but I don't want to.

 

One doesn't "lose" a quit. That fosters a passive, not-my-fault "Oopsies! Lost it!" lack of accountability.

 

One consciously, actively, and with full knowledge and awareness, throws away and abandons a perfectly good quit. One ruins a good thing. On purpose.

 

Don't do that.

 

 

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[sgt.barney]

i've even been thinking I would go buy a box of nic gum before I would take that first puff. This sucks, it's a lot of work, but I know it's worth it.

That is *every damned bit* as bad as buying smokes.

 

You are nicotine free at the moment.

 

Why would you ruin that and set yourself back on the road to addiction?

 

Why?

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[Jenny]

 I think you may be expecting too much regarding how "over" the quit your should be at this point.  Quitting smoking is a major change that affects nearly ever aspect of your life.  Your life REVOLVED around it for many years.  You were either smoking or planning your next one.  You can't get your head past that in a month but you can cement yourself in NOPE and I can guarantee to you that at some point in the future it won't be a daily struggle.  In fact, it won't be a struggle at all.  

 

So glad you posted!  You're at war!  Never surrender!

[Kendra]

I'm on a  similar sea. Karen, thanks for putting your truth out here.  QT riders, thanks for putting your support and truths out here, too.

[Runfree]

I remember posting around week 5 or 6 and saying something similar, "when can I expect this, that and the other thing to improve".  They responded much like what Jenny just posted..."it's early in your quit, get your feet planted firmly in your non-smoking reality and roll with the rest of it".  That helped me.  Just knowing there would be some angst in the days ahead somehow made it less of a big deal.  And wouldn't you know it, things did get better, much better, shortly after that.

[babs609]

I need a frickin attitude adjustment. I'll keep reading and reading and listening to Joels words of wisdom. Don't know what else I can do at this point. And I did pledge. But just for today. 

i've even been thinking I would go buy a box of nic gum before I would take that first puff. This sucks, it's a lot of work, but I know it's worth it.

 

that's it....the magic words...Just for today! 

 

ending the Obsession with smoking takes time...but slowly...over the next few months...it will become less and less.  I promise.