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Share your quitting journey

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work you go

crazymama_Lori
0 5 9

Good to see many newbies showing up here again. Please stick with us. This is probably the only site I've been on or observed that is easy to navigate and is so responsive to people in need. The old saying goes around here of take what you need and leave the rest. Sometimes some responses to blogs seems harsh or abrasive. Just remember sometimes we all need a kick in the pants, but don't you dare leave us. You will go through many, many different cycles while quitting and being overly sensitive is just one of them. You don't appreciate someone's comments, let them know about it. Don't you leave us, ya hear?

 

You will go through the hole in the pit of your stomach feeling. Some people go through some really bizarre crying jags. It's okay, because you're grieving. Believe it or not, you're divorcing your best friend and it's leaving a hole somewhere in your life. I'm of the school of taking just five or ten minutes when a craving hits you to figure out why you want that cigarette so bad. Some will fight it and say they have no clue why. If you really take a minute, I'm sure you can figure it out. All you have to do is grab a piece of paper, a napkin, jot down exactly what you're feeling at that moment. Are you anxious, tired, hungry, bored, angry, tense, lonely? Others will have the on again, off again cycle. They get only so far and they jump ship and go back to their old friend. It keeps happening and happening. There's an easy answer to that, my friend. There is something at that moment in time that drove you to that cancer stick. Something that you used it for to hide an emotion, hide a feeling, stuff back some bad stuff in your life. This is a fairly easy concept to grasp for anything in your life. If it keeps happening over and over again, you never really thought of a plan when it happened the first time to stop it from coming around again. Get your game plan together.

 

Not everyone goes through the same stages as everyone else. If addiction was so cut and dry, you go through this for 10 days, this for 20, this for 30, if someone could have given me a precise timeline of exactly what's going to happen exactly when, I'd be sailing through this whole quitting ordeal. Once you come to the acceptance of this will be with you for the rest of your life, it will pop up from time to time, sometimes unexpectedly because something in your memory is triggering it, whatcha gonna do? How are you planning to handle that when it comes up? Have you thought of that at all? I'm by no means an elder, but it always amazes me how 3, 4, 5 plus year quits get lost along the way and we go right back to smoking again. It's a powerful thing if you give it the power. Remember that day one. Put that memory in a box in your mind, because you just might need it someday. Do you honestly want to go back there again?

 

We all have physical withdrawal for 2 to 3 weeks. Then we have the retraining process, 130 days to even 200 days for some. Get through 30 days and give it 6 months. Before long you'll get to the 300-day mark and a year is just right around the corner. You made it a year and you created new memories over anniversaries, birthdays, family gatherings, etc. You'll find they are easier the second year because you have those new memories. Sometimes our anticipation of the event in the first place in the first year far outweighs what they in reality are all about.

 

Addiction is a funny thing. Ours is probably one of the hardest ones because it kills slowly but surely. Some quit because they ended up with a smoke-related disease. Some want to quit before they do. It is doable. It can be achieved. Come along for the ride and let us help you along the way. We've all been there and know exactly what you're going through. Go to the members tab and click on Active members, those are the people that are online at the time. Send them a message to their inbox or their message board. Trust me we'll respond to you. Ask away, ask for advice, help, anything you need, we're here. Think of it as the first day of spring and you get to open up the windows for the very first time after a very long and hard winter. Oh, it's so good to be free. Happy Hump Day, everyone !!!!!  

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About the Author
Never be afraid or embarrassed about your "smoking thoughts" while quitting, they're there to remind us how strong we truly can be. Always remember, you will always WANT to smoke, but you have to CHOOSE not to. We can't break the ties that bind us without first changing the cycle that created it.