The Reason my Quit is Sticky.

[Sirius]

Samuel Clemens said it best, "Quitting smoking is easy, I've done it a hundred times."

 

So you quit, but how did you stay quit?   When the going got tough and the cigarette was at your finger tips and your brain sang for a smoke, how was it that you stayed true and kept your quit?

 

A couple months down the road and you wanted one for old times sake (just this once), but then decided against it.

 

For those who kept the faith and abstained, how have you stayed true?

 

For myself, one of my biggest reasons was that I never wanted to have to quit (go through withdrawals) all over again. 

 

It gradually gets easier but only if you never, ever, smoke.    No freebies, no exceptions.   :angry:

 

 

[Nancy]

The reason I got my final quit is because I finally realized that there is no such thing as just one....I am absolutely one puff away from a pack a day.  Also, when I finally understood that the only thing having a smoke does is relieve the withdrawal symptoms for 30 to 45 minutes...and if I were to smoke one, those withdrawal symptoms would be right back!

[BAT]

I was ready  :)

[Doreensfree]

Well this question is easy Peasy for me..Utter Fear.!!!!

This Really was my last chance..I had run out of half hearted quits....

I wasn't even sure ,I had left it too late...I just prayed...

Thankfully..between me quitting and the wonderful folks here..we saved my two feet from amputation...

I literally cannot have one...ever....

[Boo]

I was fed up with the amount of control my addiction had over my life.  Needing to feed the beast at least a couple of times an hour.  The addiction was controlling where I went.  I stopped going to movies, concerts, and football games because I couldn't smoke in any of the venues anymore.  I finally hit a wall with smoking and decided that even if quitting sucked, it wouldn't be any more of a pain in the ass than continuing to smoke.

 

I had a choice to make.  Either continue smoking and hating it realizing that I wasn't strong enough to beat my addiction.  Or, stop tip-toeing around what I knew needed to be done and dive into the quit headfirst.  There was some doubt and irrational fears in the early days, but I had finally made a real commitment to myself and was not going to fail again.

 

A year later, I appreciate every moment of the process.  Even those times that were a bit uncomfortable.  

[Reciprocity]

I can honestly relate to everything that has been said above. Health reasons, getting out from under the control of the addiction reasons and just generally feeling better about myself as a person and for sure not wanting to have to go through the first week or so again.

 

I am also at the point now, getting close to a couple of months quit, where if i wasn't tuned into a place like this I would probably be thinking; "Ok, I got this thing pretty much beat now but damit, sure would like to just try one for old time sake. Just to see what it was like. I could stop again after one because look how far I've come after smoking regularly all those years and that thinking would likely put me right back to square one again, just like it has for so many others. Reading all the stories of other people and what has happened to their quits after smoking just one or even just a puff has pretty much scared the hell out of me so that I just will not chance it. No way would it be worth it. Not after coming this far. Besides, I am just getting to the point where I really am not missing it as badly as I was the first while so why go back now?

[Stewie]

You know, i really dont know what made this quit stick to me, but the thought process since after 1 month has been to not screw it up. Ive been through a small hell to quit and now im confortable not smoking so why spoil it right?

[Doreensfree]

You know, i really dont know what made this quit stick to me, but the thought process since after 1 month has been to not screw it up. Ive been through a small hell to quit and now im confortable not smoking so why spoil it right?

Why indeed !!!

[ChRiSpY]

I WAS NOT GOING TO FAIL... NO MATTER WHAT!!!

 

My mind was right... that is all it takes. 

 

I came out of my quit with a level of confidence that I never had before.. I could do anything... and I was not going to prove that theory wrong by ever having a cig again.  

 

It is easy peasy (damn it sarge) now... not even a thought.

[Jackie]

I was so scared for my health.....I wanted to be healthy for not only my family, but for me.  I don't stay awake at night anymore feeling like i'm putting lung cancer directly into my body....I don't hear commercials about non-smoking and think "if only".  I can go with my friends or out to lunch with others at work because I don't have to smoke at lunch.  Life....is......good!

[sgt.barney]

What's keeping The Sarge on The Train?

 

Sarge doesn't want to die until he has to. Not. One. Minute. Earlier.

 

 

 

Easy Peasy

[Dee]

Why this quit is so important.... many reasons I want to be able to stay active even more active than I was while smoking. I don't want the next cancer diagnosis to be mine. I recall seeing how sad my mom was when she was diagnosis she was so mad at herself for not quitting sooner. I was one of the last smokers in my family and circle of friends and I kept thinking I don't want to be the last man standing it sounds silly but it was important to not be the truly last smoker in the group. I want to be strong and healthy I have many more mountains to climb literally and do not want to huff and puff.

[ExTex]

I need this so much today.  Thank you all for your honest responses

[Sazerac]

This is a great thread,  Sirius.

I guess I was on hiatus when you posted this.

The reason I have a sticky quit is my deep and binding commitment to myself and the desire to keep myself free.

 

[Lin-quitting]

For reasons I still don't understand, but am completely grateful for: in the early days of my quit, with all the reading and researching I was doing, I was able to totally absorb and understand the concept of "NOPE". We addicts have to learn - and live - NOPE for the rest of our lives. I accept this. I believe this. I intend to live this.

 

Well, there's also the concept of "you smoke, you die". I use this too, because I think it's true, for me. My breathing was for shite, for years. I don't dare go back.

[Giveintowin]

This is a good post. I never want to go through withdrawals either. They suck!

 

Thanks for the reminder. 

[TravellingSunny]

On 3/21/2017 at 8:57 PM, Sirius said:

For those who kept the faith and abstained, how have you stayed true?

 

For myself, one of my biggest reasons was that I never wanted to have to quit (go through withdrawals) all over again. 

 

It gradually gets easier but only if you never, ever, smoke.    No freebies, no exceptions.   :angry:

 

 

 

*sigh* This exact thought kept my quit solid for five years.  I had several unfortunate events throughout that five years, and never did I ever want to have to quit again.  An exceptionally bad day finally broke me.  And, I keep thinking back to that moment that I CHOSE to go swipe a pack from my husband's stash and partake.  I keep thinking "Why on EARTH did I do that when I KNEW I didn't ever want to have to quit again."

 

All I can come up with is that in the thick of it, I didn't even think about how hard it would be to quit again.  I didn't think about everything that I'd gone through to become a non-smoker.  I wasn't thinking about anything except my bad day and how I NEEDED to have a cigarette so that I could get in control of my thoughts and address the situation.

 

This time I'm gonna need something else to keep me quit.  I still don't want to go through quitting again, but I know that thought won't work for me.  It's gonna have to be me.  It's gonna have to be getting it through my thick skull that the cigarette will NOT help me control my thoughts.  It will not calm me down.  So, so hard to make myself believe that.  I know it's true in my mind, but my body just doesn't buy it yet.

[notsmokinjo]

Honestly?,  because I don't wanna loose face or ever feel the way i felt the last time I relapsed ever again.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Ol' Ozzie Looney-Bird

[JB 883]

I was truly ready to quit.

I think the reason my quit is sticking is cause I see people I know who are hooked on pills, cigarettes, drinking, or whatever and it is ridiculous.

We are not kids experimenting with chemicals. It isn't cool anymore. People get addicted.

 

"But I just gotta have my cigarettes"

 

Who wants to be THAT person? I think after a while I just felt stupid by keeping smoking. I didn't want to be one of THOSE people.

[brand.new.ela]

In my case it was a combination of luck and education. The first month was relatively easy and it wasn’t difficult to handle the cravings. The later i was in my quit the More founded was the argument “it’d be a pity to waste it now”. 

 

I also decided to read more. While browsing online I found QSMB as well as other pages. Knowing why and what is happening helps enormously. 

 

Now, almost six months clean, I have surprisingly strong cravings. I guess it’s because of the stress of moving to another country and all the related changes. However, knowledge that such stress I always “cured” with smoking and need to reprogram my mind now, makes it easier and helps not to romanticize the cigarette. 

 

As a bonus I’ll add determination and stubbornness. I was told I wouldn’t do it and here I am. 

[notsmokinjo]

On 4/25/2018 at 2:53 PM, Ol' Ozzie Looney-Bird said:

Honestly?,  because I don't wanna loose face or ever feel the way i felt the last time I relapsed ever again.

 

Ok need to expand this on this ....

 

Besides deciding to see how far I could take this quit, the only real thing I have done to make it stick is to NOPE, and even that has more to do with everyone else than it does with me.

 

This quit is really so sticky because of everyone else here.... you see, for me, it works like this... it was all just a big joke and a big game (my quit), kind of a like a dare I gave myself each day, a bit of an experiment (and we all know how I love my experiments ). Anyway, I was into week 3 and I sort of thought, might be time to take this serious I'm actually doing this and then...the week 3 mental breakdown hit... the wheels were falling off my quit.

 

A google search lead me to the over there, where I did some scatty post and Jillar, and Beazel and a heap of others jumped on an gee'd me up... so then I went awol and dealt with my real life issues over chrissy (which were pretty hairy), didn't toss my quit but was missing from the boards. Once real life settled it was back online to all the post new years join ups.

 

Every single day was 24 hours of hell as I struggled to get through without lighting up... every day I would look at the NOPE thread but I wouldn't post.. because, well,  Not One Puff Ever... really could I publicly declare that?... in front of all these people who I was getting to know and consider friends... yeah-nah I wasn't doing that, some of these friends really meant something and if I said NOPE and then tossed it in I couldn't face them again, I'd have to walk away and well if I didn't NOPE and did toss it away I wouldn't feel like I had lied to everyone so I could stay and start over... yep real junkie, had the contingencies all lined up... and then 1 day I I went "Ah Fvck it" cos I was kinda feeling fraudulent that i didn't NOPE so I did... and I kid you not the whole quit and crave thing became easier... but the thought of giving up this quit, tossing it away, is more tied to loosing face to everyone in that NOPE thread... cos every day I go in there and I NOPE and I mean it and if I toss that... I just lied to everyone and I'm a total fricking sham.

 

The second thing is the last time I relapsed it took me over a decade to do this again... over a decade... why??? because I felt so sh1tty about myself, I felt like I was pathetic and I'd never be able to do it so why bother... BS... 5 months, feeling better and stronger than I ever did that last time. But why, why am I better with it this time...

 

Its you sticks and chick, you blokes and sheilas, you lads n lassies, guys and girls, its all of you who accept the annoying craziness that can be me at times, those of you who notice the patterns when I take up residence on the river nile and I act like all is fine but you somehow know its not and reach out with a PM and then have to put up with an hour or two of wow is me yada, yada, yada... its the ones who make me laugh out loud, even if I'm on a packed train, or the ones that tell me I'm doing a good job (so clearly we all now know that's a thing for me too) ... its the ones who bare witness to my nope each day, its those old phartes who drag out brilliant posts from the archives to save me searching for them, its those who are just a daily presence to swap a number with or change a letter with , or answer a silly question, its those of you who look at my posts and realise its an SOS even when I don't myself and give me the arse kicking, reality check I need... This quit is so sticky because I have every single, eccentric, dedicated, crazy arsed fellow junky on this train at my back holding me up and pushing me forward.

 

So I hope ya all frickin proud.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Ol' Ozzie Looney-Bird

[Jordan7]

6 hours ago, Ol' Ozzie Looney-Bird said:

 

Ok need to expand this on this ....

 

Besides deciding to see how far I could take this quit, the only real thing I have done to make it stick is to NOPE, and even that has more to do with everyone else than it does with me.

 

This quit is really so sticky because of everyone else here.... you see, for me, it works like this... it was all just a big joke and a big game (my quit), kind of a like a dare I gave myself each day, a bit of an experiment (and we all know how I love my experiments ). Anyway, I was into week 3 and I sort of thought, might be time to take this serious I'm actually doing this and then...the week 3 mental breakdown hit... the wheels were falling off my quit.

 

A google search lead me to the over there, where I did some scatty post and Jillar, and Beazel and a heap of others jumped on an gee'd me up... so then I went awol and dealt with my real life issues over chrissy (which were pretty hairy), didn't toss my quit but was missing from the boards. Once real life settled it was back online to all the post new years join ups.

 

Every single day was 24 hours of hell as I struggled to get through without lighting up... every day I would look at the NOPE thread but I wouldn't post.. because, well,  Not One Puff Ever... really could I publicly declare that?... in front of all these people who I was getting to know and consider friends... yeah-nah I wasn't doing that, some of these friends really meant something and if I said NOPE and then tossed it in I couldn't face them again, I'd have to walk away and well if I didn't NOPE and did toss it away I wouldn't feel like I had lied to everyone so I could stay and start over... yep real junkie, had the contingencies all lined up... and then 1 day I I went "Ah Fvck it" cos I was kinda feeling fraudulent that i didn't NOPE so I did... and I kid you not the whole quit and crave thing became easier... but the thought of giving up this quit, tossing it away, is more tied to loosing face to everyone in that NOPE thread... cos every day I go in there and I NOPE and I mean it and if I toss that... I just lied to everyone and I'm a total fricking sham.

 

The second thing is the last time I relapsed it took me over a decade to do this again... over a decade... why??? because I felt so sh1tty about myself, I felt like I was pathetic and I'd never be able to do it so why bother... BS... 5 months, feeling better and stronger than I ever did that last time. But why, why am I better with it this time...

 

Its you sticks and chick, you blokes and sheilas, you lads n lassies, guys and girls, its all of you who accept the annoying craziness that can be me at times, those of you who notice the patterns when I take up residence on the river nile and I act like all is fine but you somehow know its not and reach out with a PM and then have to put up with an hour or two of wow is me yada, yada, yada... its the ones who make me laugh out loud, even if I'm on a packed train, or the ones that tell me I'm doing a good job (so clearly we all now know that's a thing for me too) ... its the ones who bare witness to my nope each day, its those old phartes who drag out brilliant posts from the archives to save me searching for them, its those who are just a daily presence to swap a number with or change a letter with , or answer a silly question, its those of you who look at my posts and realise its an SOS even when I don't myself and give me the arse kicking, reality check I need... This quit is so sticky because I have every single, eccentric, dedicated, crazy arsed fellow junky on this train at my back holding me up and pushing me forward.

 

So I hope ya all frickin proud.

 

What a great post, Bird.  Well done, you.  That's a fabulous quit you have going and an attitude that will help it last a lifetime.  

[Sirius]

As odd as this may sound, I believe that quitting is a social event that goes on for as long as we remain true.  

 

We draw strength and encouragement from each other as we share are ups and downs.  

 

I get a lot of congratulations and back-slaps from this Quit-train (thanks, likes, etc.).

 

Call it positive reinforcement and while I've never met any of you it would be a pity to let everyone down by losing my quit.   

[JimHannoonen]

I decided I wasn't going to smoke anymore and committed to it.

 

Just like when you commit to someone in a marriage.

 

A commitment is a commitment.

 

It really is as easy as that.