cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Share your quitting journey

Blast from the past

Chuck-2-20-2011
1 7 94

I got this blog from six years ago to share with you so that you can see how I was doing in the beginning. Couldn't figure out how to re-post it so I copied and pasted it.  Now, off to work I go!!

Yesterday was my first smoke free day. It was a day of discovery. A day of challenge and a day of understanding. It started with a wonderful encounter with nature wich I spoke of yesterday. When I left for work, I kept coming back to my room. I was forgetting something and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what it was. It was the cigarettes of course. I realized this when I tapped my pocket and the old familiar shape of that pack of smokes wasn't there.

 I smiled to myself and went happily out the door, for this was the first day of my new life. This was my first day smoke free. The day went on and I never really had the urges I'd expected or perhaps I did and just chose to ignore them. Of this I can't be sure. Later in the day I did feel one of those urges after our job was done. This was a time when I always smoked before. Actually, it was more of an impulse and as such I hadn't prepared for this particular urge.

 When I felt it I smiled, knowing that I was ready for it. And just as expected, it passed. I drove home and felt a few urges in the evening, when I used to smoke the most. I was mostly able to ignore them but when I couldn't I conce again told myself that they would quickly pass. And of course they did.

 To me, using patches to help myself quit is like quitting with training wheels. I'm learning how to live a smoke free life while getting a little help to control the urges. Still, this would have been hard had I not prepared for this day. If it wasn't clear in my mind that this was something I was going to do and there was no other option. It proves to me how important prearation and a good quit plan is.

 Every person is different. Some of us need to start out with training wheels in order to succeed and some don't. Some must prepare and become one with themselves and some can just say, "I quit!" In my opinion there is no right or wrong way to quit so long as it works. And once we get past that first day and have something to build on, we build on that. Once there is no fear in our hearts, the journey becomes easier.

 If my week continues to go as well as yesterday did then I will send my 21MG patches back and ask for the 14MG ones. As jonescarp mentioned, there's no reason to become addicted to the patches themselves and as such I will shorten the duration of their use as much as I can. I heard you jonescarp! I will step down as quickly as I can until I am nicotine fee. The true and final day of freedom.

 I know I can do this because I no longer fear quitting. I'm at peace with myself and happy to live a smoke free life. Now on to day two . . .

7 Comments