He started smoking again.

[Sirius]

My smoker buddy offered me some advice when I was initially into my quit.

 

"Don't ever smoke again."

 

Good advice, and so far I've kept it.   Fast forward to today and my friend had made the leap and stopped smoking.   

 

He actually was doing well,  Been two months.  I'd been offering encouragement and what not.

 

Well he's back to smoking.  I tried not to let my disappointment show and he didn't want to talk about it.

 

The guy is 62 and retiring soon.  

 

The power that nicotine has is amazing.  I know that statistics show that it takes several tries before people actually succeed but

I was so hoping for success.  I know I can't quit for other people and each person has to stare down their demons with their own determination.

 

Still, his failure only strengthens my resolve never to smoke again. 

 

Tobacco is amazingly addictive.  So...not one puff ever.

 

 

[Doreensfree]

I can so relate...I too have a friend who I would have loved to have joined me here...but not too be..

No matter what I said...she is in denial

She is now battling pancreatic cancer...and has sepsis twice since Christmas...and still struggles to smoke.... My heart is broke..

I feel your disappointment...we can only hope he, after smoking and reolizing he doesn't want to be a smoker..he will quit again...

We are the lucky ones ...who have found the strength.... The support....the means....to rid our selves of this killer addiction...x

[JB 883]

It can take several months before the desire to smoke rids itself. Two months is great but one is certainly not off the hook yet as far as cravings.

I am going on four months and still want to smoke. Not sure how long it takes and never asked lest i be directed to go watch some damn video.

 

So you stopped smoking long before he did. I assume he was smoking when you quit? WHY then was he giving you advice about quitting?

Is he one of those "off again on again" "quitters" like so many out there?

[Reciprocity]

I quit one time and one time only. So far, it is intact and I plan that it will be that way for the rest of my life. So; if you are a new quitter trying to say NO to this addiction for the first time in your life, I say .... it is possible! You just have to want to do it badly enough. Like everything else in life, it's really about how much you want it and are you ready to put in the work to get there?

[Sirius]

Intellectually he knows that smoking is bad and so his advice was accurate enough.   

 

He's not completely in denial.  Most smokers know, deep down, that smoking is bad.  Really bad.

 

 

 

 

[PeaceTrain]

47 minutes ago, reciprocity said:

I quit one time and one time only. So far, it is intact and I plan that it will be that way for the rest of my life. So; if you are a new quitter trying to say NO to this addiction for the first time in your life, I say .... it is possible! You just have to want to do it badly enough. Like everything else in life, it's really about how much you want it and are you ready to put in the work to get there?

 

Take note, lurkers and newbies... Reciprocity is living proof that it doesn't have to be several attempts before you can be successful.  Sometimes that idea alone is enough to weaken someone's quit enough to cave in on their first attempt.  When one is in the throes of withdrawal and strong urges, it could be easy to say, "I'll never do it.  No one quits on their first attempt.  It's too hard!"  Wrong!!! 

 

It would be great to hear other success stories on the first attempt to quit.  I can't say I was that smart.  This is my third quit and so far, so amazing.  

Edited January 30, 2018 by PeaceTrain

[Reciprocity]

^^^ Yes, none of us were in complete denial but we just needed that one moment that brought the full impact that smoking was having on us into crystal clear focus. That;s what is required for us to finally decide to do something about it. At least - that's my take on it because that's what it took for me to realize I HAD to quit.

Just now, PeaceTrain said:

 

Take note, lurkers and newbies... Reciprocity is living proof that it doesn't have to be several attempts before you can be successful.  Sometimes that idea alone is enough to weaken someone's quit enough to cave in on their first attempt.  It would be great to hear other success stories on the first attempt to quit.  I can't say I was that smart.  This is my third attempt and so far, so amazing.  

You have it in the bag this time PT! I know it to be true because of all the things you post and the progression you have made since you became a member of our family. Smoking is so in your past now! From here on to the lido deck, you just gotta be on guard for and "sneak attacks", which are highly unlikely at this point.

[Jenny]

I quit smoking more than 5 years ago and it was the first time I ever attempted it.  To be honest, I was testing the water really when I started, just to see what it was like.  As suspected it was quite horrid!  Once I'd gone a day, two days without smoking I was motivated to keep it going and started searching for information leading me to this board.  Two things made the difference for me personally.  1. I knew if I started smoking again that, eventually, I would to have to quit again.  I didn't want to set myself back to the beginning because I didn't think I had the energy to start again. 2. The support of the people on this board.

 

Whether it's your first attempt of your 20th, you have to want to quit more than you want to smoke in order to be successful.  

[Martian5]

Well I can  definitely say that this is not my first quit but by far the longest I have gone and I do not want to do this again so I am making this my actual quit.  As to the ideas presented above about most smokers not being to quit on the first try I think that web sites and written material for smoking cessation give smokers an easy way out of quitting by saying that most people do not quit on the first try.  It is almost leading the smoker to denial, I know I was there and that was my thinking.  Thought I could never quit.  Then I saw I was in complete denial about the addiction and what it was doing to me.  Almost 4 weeks ago I woke up and really saw what this addiction was doing to me (along with the help of some others).  

Edited January 31, 2018 by Martian5

[Sirius]

Speaking honestly, my last quit was not my first quit.

 

BUT IT BLOODY WELL BE MY LAST QUIT!

 

 

[Reciprocity]

 

5 minutes ago, Martian5 said:

Well I can  definitely say that this is not my first quit but by far the longest I have gone and I do not want to do this again so I am making this my actual quit.  As to the ideas presented above about most smokers not being to quit on the first try I think that web sites and written material for smoking cessation give smokers an easy way out of quitting by saying that most people do not quit on the first try.  It is almost leading the smoker to denial, I know I was there and that was my thinking.  Thought I could never quit.  Then I saw I was in complete denial about the addiction and what it was doing to me.  Almost 4 weeks ago I woke up and really saw what this addiction was doing to me (along with the help of some others).  

That's it M5!! I believe each one of us needs "that moment" when we realize we HAVE to quit; no if's and's or buts! Whether that's or 1st 10th or 20th try. Sooner or later we just get it!

[Jenny]

2 hours ago, Jetblack said:

It can take several months before the desire to smoke rids itself. Two months is great but one is certainly not off the hook yet as far as cravings.

I am going on four months and still want to smoke. Not sure how long it takes and never asked lest i be directed to go watch some damn video.

 

So you stopped smoking long before he did. I assume he was smoking when you quit? WHY then was he giving you advice about quitting?

Is he one of those "off again on again" "quitters" like so many out there?

JT,  It can take some time for the cravings,thoughts to diminish.  The time frame is different for everyone, but for me it was a very very gradual process.  The first few months I thought about smoking almost non stop.  It was mentally exhausting and I was desperate to not have to think about it anymore.  Around 8 months quit I started to notice that I was going much longer periods of time without thoughts of smoking and from there, month by month, it just got to be less and less.  Honestly at this point the only time I think about smoking is when I come here!  Anyway, hang in there.  It does get better and I can promise it is so worth it!

[Octain]

I quit one time previously, for about a half a day.

So technically, this is my first serious quit. 

 

What I have come to realize, with most substance addictions you get something from them. 

Cigarettes give you nothing.

They only take… 

[Boo]

2 hours ago, Sirius said:

Intellectually he knows that smoking is bad and so his advice was accurate enough.   

 

He's not completely in denial.  Most smokers know, deep down, that smoking is bad.  Really bad.

 

Smokers know they are killing themselves with cigarettes.  Smokers also "know" that quitting is damn near impossible and one of the most miserable undertakings one can even imagine.

 

Often times it's not ignorance or denial that keeps smokers trapped but unfounded fears based on bad information that have been accepted as gospel truth.  There's a quick fix for ignorance.  On the other hand, convincing smokers that have adopted the myth that quitting is hell on earth as fact is a far more difficult situation.

 

I think overcoming the fear of quitting takes much longer than overcoming the addiction does.

[JB 883]

Seems most people quit for health reasons. Either the doc told them their life now depended on it OR some like me who said, "I would rather not get lung cancer before deciding to quit.

No smokers are truly immune to the possibility of early death from smoking, EXCEPT Keith Richards.

[Doreensfree]

This was more my one hundred and one attempts to quit...

I understand now ,why all the others were failures....

It's all about education...learning all about this addiction... Why I was kept in the trap of nicotine....

Knowledge...this is the tool to fight the nicotine addiction war...

Read ,read,watch all the videos...soak up all the knowledge you can...

Once I saw smoking for what it really is...it gave me the strength to fight...

[sgt.barney]

21 hours ago, Jetblack said:

It can take several months before the desire to smoke rids itself.

 

Sarge had craves up until about 10 months. 

Not a one since. 

It's over 6 years now. 

 

21 hours ago, reciprocity said:

I quit one time and one time only.

 

Ditto. 

First quit. 

Last quit. 

Only quit. 

 

6+ years. 

Going on lifetime ... 

 

 

EZPZ

[Octain]

^^^hell yeah!

 

I’m convinced that the cravings never really go away. Much like working a muscle, the more you use it stronger it becomes. The more you beat the craving the stronger you become. 

The best way to beat those cravings is through education and determination. 

 

I *can* smoke, I simply choose not to. 

Cigarettes do nothing for me.

They take my money, my helalth and my time.

[Doreensfree]

For me...the cravings have gone away...what has replaced them  is thoughts...sometimes I would think of cigarettes..not in a good way..in a thankfully I'm free way...

It's what you do with those thoughts that are important...

There are long spells where I don't think of them at all.....

Early in my quit..if someone said I wouldn't think of them at all one day.... I would think they were nuts ...but it's true....

[Boo]

3 hours ago, Doreensfree said:

It's what you do with those thoughts that are important...

 

Absolutely.  Thoughts come and go constantly, even while you sleep.  It is fully within our power to decide whether or not we act on a thought.

 

There is no point in fearing random thoughts.  A thought not acted on barely even qualifies as a blip on the radar, much less something to stress over.

[Sirius]

Perhaps I will always want to smoke.

 

But I think about it less and less as time goes on.

 

The wanting slowly withers away.

 

The beauty of the human mind is that we can forget.

 

 

[sgt.barney]

On 2/1/2018 at 5:02 AM, Octain said:

I’m convinced that the cravings never really go away.

 

 

They go away, Bro. 

 

 

EZPZ