Summary of Basic Recovery Tips

[beacon]

 

Saw this somewhere else and thought it useful to post here.  From Whyquit.com.  I like #11 and 12

 

Summary of Basic Recovery Tips

 

From Freedom from Nicotine by John R. Polito of Whyquit.com

1. Law of Addiction - Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance. Fully accept chemical dependency. Nicotine addiction is as real and permanent as alcoholism. There is no such thing as just one.

2. Measure Victory One Day at a Time - Forget about quitting "forever." It's the biggest psychological bite imaginable. Instead, adopt a do-able “one day at a time" recovery philosophy.

3. Record Your Motivations - Once in the heat of battle it's normal to forget the reasons that motivated us to begin this journey home. Write yourself a reminder letter and carry it with you.

4. Do Not Skip Meals - Each puff of nicotine was our spoon pumping stored fats and sugars into our bloodstream. Why add hunger craves to nicotine craves . Eat little, healthy and often.

5. Three Days of Natural Juices - If your health permits and non-diabetic, consider drinking plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent.

6. Quitting for Others – We cannot quit for others. It must be our gift to us. Quitting for others creates a natural sense of self deprivation that will eat away at you and is a recipe for relapse.

7. Attitude - A positive attitude is important. Our subconscious is listening. Think positively.

8. Get Rid of All Nicotine - Keeping a stash handy is asking for relapse. Build in time delay.

9. Caffeine/Nicotine Interaction - Nicotine doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. Consider a caffeine reduction of up to one-half if troubled by anxieties or poor sleeping.

10. Aggressively Extinguish Nicotine Use Cues - Most use cues are extinguished by a single encounter during which the subconscious fails to receive the expected result – nicotine. Subconsciously triggered craves peak in intensity within three minutes. Cessation time distortion may make the minutes feel like hours. Keep a clock handy to maintain honest perspective. Take back your life one cue at a time!

11. Crave Coping Techniques - One coping method is to practice slow deep breathing while clearing your mind of all needless chatter by focusing on your favorite person, place or thing. Another exercise is to say your ABCs while associating each letter with your favorite food, person or place. For example, the letter "A" is for grandma's hot apple pie. "B" is for warm buttered biscuits. I think you'll find that you'll never make it to the challenging letter Q before the episode peaks in intensity and victory is yours. Try embracing a crave episode by mentally reaching out inside your mind. A crave cannot cut us, burn us or make us bleed. Be brave just once. In your mind, wrap your arms around the crave's anxiety energy and then sense as it slowly fizzles and dies while in your embrace. Yes, another use cue bites the dust and victory is yours!

12. Alcohol Use - Alcohol is associated with 50% of all relapses. Be extremely careful with early alcohol use during. Get your recovery legs under you first. Once ready, consider drinking at home first without nicotine around, going out with friends but refraining from drinking during the first outing, or spacing drinks further apart or drinking water or juice between drinks. Have an escape plan and a backup, and be fully prepared to use both.

13. Avoid Crutches - A crutch is any form of reliance that you lean upon so heavily in supporting your recovery that if quickly removed would likely result in relapse.

14. No Legitimate Excuse for Relapse - Recognize that using nicotine cannot solve any crisis. Fully accept the fact that there is absolutely no legitimate excuse for relapse, including an auto accident, financial crisis, the end of a relationship, job loss, a terrorist attack, a hurricane, the birth of a baby, falling stocks, or the eventual inevitable death of those we love most.

15. Reward Yourself - Consider using some of the money you save to be nice to you. You've earned it! Remember, with drug addiction there's no such thing as just one.

16. Just One Rule - There is only one rule which if followed provides a 100% guarantee of success: no nicotine today!

http://whyquit.com/ffn/

[Sazerac]

Great great great, beacon, thank you for posting this.

 

My favorite is #16 and I would put it First.

 

N O P E

[IndigoChilde]

Thanks for posting this! It's awesome!

[Sirius]

"He/She quit smoking for the rest of their life."

 

When you realize that "quit smoking" is an activity and not an event the sentence takes on a subtly different meaning.   

[Doreensfree]

Now I understood smoking didn't help solve anything ..couldn't change anything...

Crap happens to people who have never smoked too...

It has to be number 14 for me...once my junkie brain truly understood this.and it sunk in...I felt like a huge fight in the battle was over...

[Sazerac]

bump and a hello to Mel and Beacon too.

[Sazerac]

On 7/6/2016 at 3:37 PM, beacon said:

 

Saw this somewhere else and thought it useful to post here.  From Whyquit.com.  I like #11 and 12

 

Summary of Basic Recovery Tips

 

From Freedom from Nicotine by John R. Polito of Whyquit.com

1. Law of Addiction - Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance. Fully accept chemical dependency. Nicotine addiction is as real and permanent as alcoholism. There is no such thing as just one.

2. Measure Victory One Day at a Time - Forget about quitting "forever." It's the biggest psychological bite imaginable. Instead, adopt a do-able “one day at a time" recovery philosophy.

3. Record Your Motivations - Once in the heat of battle it's normal to forget the reasons that motivated us to begin this journey home. Write yourself a reminder letter and carry it with you.

4. Do Not Skip Meals - Each puff of nicotine was our spoon pumping stored fats and sugars into our bloodstream. Why add hunger craves to nicotine craves . Eat little, healthy and often.

5. Three Days of Natural Juices - If your health permits and non-diabetic, consider drinking plenty of acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent.

6. Quitting for Others – We cannot quit for others. It must be our gift to us. Quitting for others creates a natural sense of self deprivation that will eat away at you and is a recipe for relapse.

7. Attitude - A positive attitude is important. Our subconscious is listening. Think positively.

8. Get Rid of All Nicotine - Keeping a stash handy is asking for relapse. Build in time delay.

9. Caffeine/Nicotine Interaction - Nicotine doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. Consider a caffeine reduction of up to one-half if troubled by anxieties or poor sleeping.

10. Aggressively Extinguish Nicotine Use Cues - Most use cues are extinguished by a single encounter during which the subconscious fails to receive the expected result – nicotine. Subconsciously triggered craves peak in intensity within three minutes. Cessation time distortion may make the minutes feel like hours. Keep a clock handy to maintain honest perspective. Take back your life one cue at a time!

11. Crave Coping Techniques - One coping method is to practice slow deep breathing while clearing your mind of all needless chatter by focusing on your favorite person, place or thing. Another exercise is to say your ABCs while associating each letter with your favorite food, person or place. For example, the letter "A" is for grandma's hot apple pie. "B" is for warm buttered biscuits. I think you'll find that you'll never make it to the challenging letter Q before the episode peaks in intensity and victory is yours. Try embracing a crave episode by mentally reaching out inside your mind. A crave cannot cut us, burn us or make us bleed. Be brave just once. In your mind, wrap your arms around the crave's anxiety energy and then sense as it slowly fizzles and dies while in your embrace. Yes, another use cue bites the dust and victory is yours!

12. Alcohol Use - Alcohol is associated with 50% of all relapses. Be extremely careful with early alcohol use during. Get your recovery legs under you first. Once ready, consider drinking at home first without nicotine around, going out with friends but refraining from drinking during the first outing, or spacing drinks further apart or drinking water or juice between drinks. Have an escape plan and a backup, and be fully prepared to use both.

13. Avoid Crutches - A crutch is any form of reliance that you lean upon so heavily in supporting your recovery that if quickly removed would likely result in relapse.

14. No Legitimate Excuse for Relapse - Recognize that using nicotine cannot solve any crisis. Fully accept the fact that there is absolutely no legitimate excuse for relapse, including an auto accident, financial crisis, the end of a relationship, job loss, a terrorist attack, a hurricane, the birth of a baby, falling stocks, or the eventual inevitable death of those we love most.

15. Reward Yourself - Consider using some of the money you save to be nice to you. You've earned it! Remember, with drug addiction there's no such thing as just one.

16. Just One Rule - There is only one rule which if followed provides a 100% guarantee of success: no nicotine today!

http://whyquit.com/ffn/

 

 

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