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

Share your quitting journey

First Day Good So Far!!

tigs
Member
0 5 2
Hi all;

Today is quit day, and it hasn't been nearly as bad as my fears (and not quite as easy as my hopes). I have been dealing with my body craving nicotine since this morning. I was trying to define the difference to a co-worker on chantix from straight cold turkey attempts I have made. I tried several times, and finally came up with one he understood. My body is definitely saying it wants its nicotine! The difference is that my mind is still separate from that craving. I can recognize that my body wants the nicotine, but *I* don't. Its a physical reaction, but without the same mental/emotional involvement I had with cold turkey attempts. In fact, most of the day at work was pretty easy to deal with. Things didn't start ramping up at all until about 4 PM. Now its getting better again (5:45 PM)

In relation to that, this evening as I was driving home and feeling the nervous, restless energy that is my withrawal, I realized just how much of our reactions are based on our perceptions. I was really trying to feeeel what it was I was feeling, to accept it and work with it. And suddenly I realized that what I was calling nervous, or restless (negative words) is actually exactly the same feeling I have when I am excited and anticipating something good. You know that feeling when you "just can't wait for......"? That's really the same feeling. It was my expectation that made it seem negative. So I told myself: See how excited you are about starting your new life as a nonsmoker? And it really helped!

One last thought, an adaptation from a book quotation that some of you may recognize. It makes a good quitting mantra for me:

Craving is the mind-killer,
Craving is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my craving
I will allow it to pass over me and through me
And when it has gone,
I will turn my eye inward to watch its path
And there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Teh Tigs, Day 1
5 Comments