1000 Days.....but who's counting?

[Newfound_Joy]

Me, Me, Me!  I can hardly believe that I am writing my "Quad Blog"!  Yesss!  And many of my friends will tell you that I was a "hard core case" to get with the program.

Trust me, on Day One, I could have never imagined myself writing a blog for 1000 days of not smoking a cigarette.  My quit journey did not come easy for me by any means.  I brought my body to this site, but every cognizant thought in my head, and my body was twitching, and my brain was screaming "NOOOOOOOO"!!!  I was scared to death to stop smoking and I was scared to death to keep smoking.  I have learned here that "the fear of quitting is worse than the actual quit itself".  I failed my quit more times than I can count, and I wrote a 30 day celebration blog 2 times.  I had to reset my clock at 83 days, and that is the last time I have touched my clock.  I know what the self-hatred, the guilt, and remorse of failing your quit feels like.  At Day 84 which turned back into Day 1, I told myself "I will never do another Day One again"!

So what was different this time?  How did I ever actually make it?  I have 3 words to contribute:  Education about nicotine, listening to the older, wiser ones, and following their directions.  Without totally adhering to those 3 concepts, I would still be messing with my DANG clock, or worse I would still be smoking.

I want to say this particularly to you newbies and/or the quitters who have joined in the past few months.  For me to STAY QUIT, I had to have the DESIRE and the POWER.  Well, we know everyone on this Ex World has the desire to quit smoking or you would be on Facebook or someplace else.  So that's a given - we all have that.  Next comes the tricky part or the nuts and bolts of staying quit:  the Power.  I am here to tell you that we all have that power already in us!  I just didn't know it.  You may be wondering how I could ever make such a statement.  The key to staying quit is all about mindset.  I would always tell myself that I could never quit smoking, so guess what?  I never could!  We have to learn how to change our thinking about smoking.  We no longer have the luxury of fantasizing about it or believing the lies that the Nicodemon will bombard us with like "I really love to smoke" or "it's not that bad for me" or "it relieves my stress".  The lies are endless and are all meant to get you to light up just that one cigarette.  We all know that there is no such thing as ONE cigarette just as there is no such thing as ONE drink for an alcoholic.  We are true blue nicotine addicts period, and it is very important that you are true to yourself and admit that.

Now back to the power we have in us.  We have to become really aware of what our thoughts are telling our brain or our subconscious mind.  The subconscious mind believes what your thoughts tell it whether good or bad, rational or irrational.  I had to make up my mind to "be a happy smoke-free person just for today."  I needed the word "happy" in there because all the other times I quit, I played the martyr role.  Oh woe is me, look at all I am giving up, and I am still miserable.  You know the role.  ODAT- One day at a time for me was crucial because I knew that I could stay smoke free for 24 hours as I had done it countless times in the past.  I would actually cringe when a friend would say "Oh I just know this is your forever quit."  I know they meant well, but NO!  For me, all my little pea brain could handle was this 24 hour period.  So the first thing you do to tap into our own power is pay attention to your thinking.  What are you telling yourself?

When a really strong crave comes over you, and chances are they will, you use the tools that you have or will learn here at the EX World.  I remember when my thoughts were telling me that I needed a cigarette, I would actually say the word NO! outloud no matter where I was.  Kind of embarrassing in a convenience store.  But who cares?  Laughter is another very big part of staying quit.  Recognize your craving when you have one-don't pretend it's not there.  It's a 3 step procedure:  1)  Hello. What do you want?  Then listen to that whiney, snively voice in your head that tells you that you "need" to smoke.  2)  Emphatically, tell it NO!  I don't do that anymore.  3)  Kick it to the curb!  Get lost!  Get out of my head! (Thank you EX Nancy)  Use your own imagination for your wording.  So the second part of using our own power is POSITIVELY AND EMPHATICALLY ACTING on your own thoughts.  This is my brain, I control my own thoughts, and there is no more room for negativity or to listen to the lies of the addiction.  This is the beginning of changing your thought patterns and re-wiring your brain.

After routinely practicing and doing the above mental exercises, you will find that they become natural to you.  I wrote a blog once "Effort creates Energy", and this is when this will all begin to make sense to you.  You are putting out the Effort and the Energy seems to take on a life of its own.  Now that you don't have that smoke clouded brain, and the oxygen is flowing freely and as it should be into your blood vessels in your brain, you begin to see the entire world in a different light.  Things that have always been there you now see in a new positive perspective.  I have learned so many new things about myself just by quitting smoking.  There is not a self-improvement book out there to help me discover who I really am.  My low self-esteem issues have all but vanished. (I have noticed that MOST all of us have very low self-esteem when we first arrive here.)  The creative capacity in my brain has opened up worlds to me.  I could write a blog on the benefits of quitting smoking, but you get my meaning.

One final, very important step to tap into using our own power:  Positive Affirmations.  I use these daily.  Affirmations are repeating a given sentence or an idea over and over in your mind or out loud.  One of the most famous affirmations in history being "Every day in every way I am getting better and better" by the French psychologist Emile Coue.  The idea behind affirmations is based on the principle that any idea exclusively occupying the mind turns into reality. (Thank you, Thomas) Trust me...it works!!

And so my quit journey continues.  I look forward every day to learning something new and exciting and positive.  My wish is for all of you to use your own power and re-claim your life.  You deserve it!

"No cigarette tastes as good as quitting smoking makes you feel."

I did not know at the time, but I chose my name as a self-fulfilling prophecy.............Newfound Joy

And I would NEVER EVER be here without all the help and support of all of you WINNERS!  MANY THANKS!!!.